——Says credibility of any election timetable would depend not only on the dates announced but also on how fairly the rules are applied to all stakeholders.
A Renowned Academic, Public Affairs Analyst and Welfare Officer, Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria, Enugu State Chapter, Prof. Chiwuike Uba, made this known while speaking on a topic “ Party Politics and 2027 Election Timetable: INEC Regulations and Party Compliance,” on Freedom Square, a programme on Solid FM, 100.9, anchored by Uchenna Cyril Anioke.
Prof. Uba described the proposed timetable as a reflection of “subjective fairness” in the nation’s electoral process.
He emphasized that while election schedules are expected to provide equal opportunities for political parties, candidates and voters, perceptions of fairness often vary depending on political interests and regional expectations.
According to the professor, “the subjective nature of fairness as regards the INEC election timetable, I would say that the timing, the spacing of different activities could have been done better. Also why we blame INEC, we will also take a look at what the National Assembly did. If the National Assembly had passed that legislation earlier, INEC would have had enough time to do certain things. Whether we like or not, whether the INEC is made independent in true sense of it is something that if we start betting on it, it may take us to infinity to decide. Beyond that also, National Assembly as we know today is largely made up of members of APC. Even those in the other political parties has cross carpeted without any consequences and all that. So you will see an electoral law which dovetailed to favour one political party than the other. That is what we see in the electoral Act especially in the issue of digital register to be submitted 21 days prior to party primaries. We know even before now that electoral Act was signed, the APC as a party has concluded their digital registration and all the rest of it all. So which also give an impression that what happened was a deliberate act to hoodwink other political parties and also stampede them and give the ruling party undue advantage over others. What I think would have happened is to give a phase implementation. Maybe for this year, giving that we need to do this things as quickly as possible, INEC would have said okay, from subsequent elections this is what would happen. But they are just making it mandatory that political parties that failed to comply with the time table this time will be affected.”
“This short period of time will affect political parties mainly when the opposition are still building coalition and all the rest of it all. So is like one is ready and others are still scrambling like the scramble and partitioning of Africa,” he stated.
He noted that what may appear balanced to one group could be viewed as unfavorable by another, making neutrality a difficult but necessary goal for the electoral body.
“It looks like also that the ruling party deliberately did this in other to ensure that they scramble and partition other opposition parties. So I wont blame the INEC intoto, I blame the National Assembly for the delay, I blame the National Assembly for the power play that went into that legislation but INEC could have done better in the situation,” he added.
Prof. Uba therefore concluded that transparency, timely communication and strict adherence to the law remain essential if Nigerians are to build confidence in the 2027 electoral process.