The Pathfinder
Sunday, February 8, 2026
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised serious concerns over the increasing rate of internal conflicts and leadership tussles within registered political parties, warning that persistent crises could lead to deregistration.
INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, SAN, expressed the commission’s frustration on Thursday in Abuja during INEC’s first regular consultative meeting with political parties.
According to Amupitan, recurring factional disputes, conflicting court orders, and endless leadership battles have become a major challenge for the electoral body and a threat to constitutional order.
“Sometimes, one wonders whether it is even necessary to continue registering or retaining some political parties, given the constant leadership struggles and court pronouncements recognising different individuals as party leaders,” the INEC chairman said.
He lamented that such disputes frequently drag the commission into avoidable legal battles, describing them as “needless litigations” that waste valuable time and public resources.
Meanwhile, INEC announced the registration of two additional political parties — the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The announcement was made by Prof. Amupitan during the same consultative meeting in Abuja. He explained that the DLA was registered after successfully completing INEC’s rigorous verification process, while the registration of the NDC followed an order of the Federal High Court.
With the addition of the two parties, the total number of registered political parties in Nigeria has risen to 21.
The INEC chairman also drew attention to what he described as a “worrisome decline” in voter participation across the country. He disclosed that voter turnout in presidential elections dropped sharply from 53.7 per cent in 2011 to an all-time low of 26.7 per cent in the 2023 general election.
“Technology alone cannot address voter apathy,” Amupitan noted. “Public confidence is often weakened by the perception that democracy is not delivering tangible benefits to citizens.”
He therefore called for collective efforts by all stakeholders to rebuild trust in the electoral process.
Amupitan further confirmed INEC’s preparedness for the forthcoming Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections scheduled for February 21, 2026. He said approximately 1.6 million voters are expected to participate across 2,822 polling units.
He also disclosed that the commission is making early preparations for the Ekiti State governorship election on June 20, 2026, and the Osun State governorship poll slated for August 8, 2026.
Looking ahead to the 2027 general elections, INEC announced plans to conduct a nationwide Voter Revalidation Exercise aimed at cleaning up the current voters’ register of 93.4 million entries by eliminating duplicate registrations and removing deceased persons.
In his remarks, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, urged INEC to maintain strict neutrality and consistently adhere to political party constitutions in resolving disputes.
He also called for sweeping electoral reforms, including the abolition of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and the transfer of responsibility for local government elections to INEC.
Dantalle further advocated mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal and proposed conducting all elections in a single day to reduce costs and curb voter fatigue.
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