APC moves to disqualify opposition candidates in Niger

The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Niger State has dragged four opposition parties before the Federal High Court in Minna, seeking to stop their candidates from participating in the 2027 general elections over alleged breaches of the Electoral Act, 2026.

The suit is targeting candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Social Democratic Party, SDP, Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, and African Democratic Congress, ADC, who reportedly defected from the APC after losing its May 2026 primary elections.

Those affected include PDP governorship candidate, Mohammed Mamman Nami; SDP governorship candidate, Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed; and ADC deputy governorship candidate, Musa Mamman.

Also listed are Sadiq Mohammed Rabiu and Peter Jiya, contesting the Niger South Senatorial seat for the NDC and PDP respectively, alongside several NDC candidates for the House of Representatives and Niger State House of Assembly.

The APC, in an originating summons marked FHC/MN/2026, is challenging the validity of their nominations, arguing that they were not registered members of the parties that eventually nominated them when the statutory membership registration window closed.

The party’s case, as contained in an affidavit sworn to by its state chairman, Aminu Musa Bobi, is that the politicians remained APC members between April 21 and May 10, 2026, when political parties were required to submit their digital membership registers to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

According to the APC, the affected politicians only moved to the opposition parties after participating in and losing the ruling party’s primaries in May.

It argued that their absence from the membership registers submitted by the new parties disqualified them from seeking elective positions on those platforms.

The party is relying on Section 77 of the Electoral Act, 2026, particularly subsections (5) and (7), which it says restrict participation in party primaries to persons whose names appear in the membership registers submitted to INEC.

The legal challenge also questions INEC’s decision to publish the candidates’ names on October 10, followed by a press release on October 13, despite what the APC described as their failure to meet the statutory requirements.

In its written address, the party’s legal team, comprising six Senior Advocates of Nigeria, also invoked the September 24, 2026 Supreme Court judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party & Ors, arguing that the electoral commission failed to apply the ruling consistently in Niger State.

The APC alleged that INEC had acted on the Supreme Court’s position in governorship contests in other states but failed to similarly address the eligibility of affected governorship and legislative candidates in Niger.

It wants the court to declare the candidates ineligible, nullify INEC’s publication of their names and compel the commission to remove them from the list of candidates for the 2027 elections.

The party is also seeking an order preventing INEC from recognising the affected politicians or including their names on ballot papers.

The case is yet to be assigned a hearing date.