By:
Hon. Oluwole Oke
Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Member, House of Representatives
National Assembly, Abuja
Date: 30 June 2025
1. Introduction
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), by virtue of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as altered) (1999 Constitution) and the Electoral Act, serves as both an election management body and the Registrar/Regulator of political parties in Nigeria. While its electoral functions often dominate public attention, the regulatory function—especially regarding the registration, oversight and supervision of political parties — is equally vital to the health of our democracy.
This position paper draws attention to the increasing misuse of the party registration system by political entities that lack electoral participation, democratic intent, administrative capacity, national spread or institutional structure. It calls for INEC to exercise greater oversight, and where necessary, proscribe or deregister political parties that do not meet or continued to meet statutory requirements.
2. Legal and Institutional Context and Basis
Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended by the Fourth Alteration Act No. 9 of 2017) empowers INEC to deregister political parties on specific grounds, including:
Breach of any of the registration requirements;
Failure to win at least 25% of votes in one State in a Presidential election or one local government in a State in a Governorship election;
Failure to win at least one ward in a Chairmanship election, one seat in a National or State Assembly; or
Failure to participate in elections.
3. The Problem: Proliferation of Non-Performing Political Parties
There has been a noticeable rise in political parties that do not present candidates for election, lack State or National structures, use litigation solely to challenge election outcomes despite non-participation and have no electoral representation at any level—Federal, State, or Local Government.
There are myriad of examples where political parties that were dormant or passive during the electioneering will be the first to file election petitions at the Tribunals, hoping and banking that winners at the election, will come to request for out of court settlement. The then use the opportunity to make huge monetary demands from such winners, who are desperate to avoid unnecessary technical legal issues that may scuttle their victory.
4. Implications for Democracy
This practice has become an industry of political desperadoes and they become active only during the immediate period before election and post-election. This unwholesome practice has far reaching implication for our democratic experience, some of which are –
Legal Chaos and Judicial Abuses: frivolous court cases from politically inactive parties distort post-election dispute resolution. This creates huge burdens on the court system, which is already constrained by short timelines and deadlines. This creates physical and systemic exhaustion on both the courts, judicial officers and on the Bar.
Ballot Confusion for Literate and Non – Literate Voters: ballot papers are overcrowded with logos of unknown parties, confusing voters. Based on feedback from voters, they have inadvertently voted wrongly because they were confused by the numerous logo on the ballot papers. Some have out of the panic, even voted across lines separating logos. The Nigerian ballot paper has become one of the longest and most complex in the world. This does not augur well for our democracy.
Waste of Public Resources: INEC allocates funds and logistical resources to parties that add no electoral value. This is financially draining on the public finance system and is clearly a waste of tax papers money. There is therefore the need to prune political parties to only those that actively and consistently meet the requirements of the Constitution.
Public Distrust: Citizens begin to question the credibility of elections marred by avoidable litigation and political noise. The merchandise that is introduced into pre and post-election issues by such moribund parties’ damages public trust.
5. Recommendations
In view of the foregoing, I wish to make the following recommendations –
Mandatory INEC Compliance Audit: INEC should urgently conduct a compliance and viability audit of all registered parties. This exercise should become routine and annual. Any political party that fails to pass the requirements should be deregistered.
Enforce Deregistration Powers: Political parties that meet constitutional conditions for deregistration must be promptly removed from the register of political parties as part of routine mandatory compliance.
Amendment of Electoral Laws: the National Assembly should strengthen the Electoral Act to explicitly limit legal standing in election petitions to parties that participated in the election in question. The judicial doctrine of locus standi, should be reinforced in the electoral space to prevent such abuses that have become rife.
Enhanced Monitoring: civil society organizations and electoral observers should be encouraged to monitor political parties, not just the elections.
Public Education: voter education campaigns should inform citizens about credible party choices and the legal framework guiding party operations.
6. Conclusion
Freedom of association and political belief is foundational to any democracy. However, such freedoms must be exercised within the ambits of the law and for the public good. Political parties are meant to be vehicles of representation, not instruments of manipulation and merchandise. INEC must rise to its regulatory responsibilities to ensure that only credible, active, and democratically inclined parties are allowed to exist. Nigeria’s democracy is too important to be sabotaged by parties without purpose.
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