News Editor
Baba Ali Kellu
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has spoken. The clock is now ticking. With the Political Party Primaries scheduled to run from April 23 to May 30, 2026, the nation stands at a critical juncture. The guidelines are, on paper, a triumph for reformers. The Electoral Act, 2026, has laid out a framework that is simple, concise, and clear: the era of the “delegate” system—that merchantile, manipulable, and often violent electoral college—has been abolished.
In its place, the law offers us a cleaner path: Direct Primaries or Consensus. This legislative adjustment was intended to wrestle power from the hands of a few godfathers and place it back into the hands of the people. It was meant to kill the system where party members were reduced to mere commodities, bought and sold by the highest bidder.
Yet, even as we celebrate the death of the abusive delegate system, we must sound a clarion call against a new, insidious form of political subjugation being orchestrated by state governors. The same self-centered politicians who once manipulated delegates are now attempting to circumvent the spirit of the 2026 Electoral Act through a brazen power play: the unilateral purchase of nomination forms.
We are witnessing a dangerous trend where governors insist on the illegitimate right to purchase all nomination forms for their states. On the surface, this may appear to be an act of party loyalty or financial support. In reality, it is a calculated move to suffocate internal democracy before it even has a chance to breathe. By buying up all the forms, a governor effectively controls the entry point to the race. Competent, willing, and popular aspirants are barred from the process—not by the will of the party members, but because they cannot access the very forms required to signify their interest.
This action is a direct violation of the principles underpinning Sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act, 2026. While the law allows for direct primaries and consensus building, it does not grant any individual—no matter how powerful—the authority to act as a gatekeeper to candidacy. When a governor purchases all nomination forms, he is not facilitating democracy; he is strangulating it. He is imposing an anointed aspirant by financial strangulation, ensuring that no opposition can emerge from within the party.
Let us be unequivocal: this is not internal democracy. This is intra-party suppression, deprivation, molestation, and subjugation. It is a perversion of the consensus model, which under Section 87(1) requires the voluntary withdrawal of aspirants. There is nothing voluntary about a scenario where aspirants are denied the physical or financial means to even enter the race.
The 2026 Electoral Act was crafted to ensure that the final register of party members is sacrosanct and that primaries reflect the true choice of the people. However, when governors wield state resources to corner the market on nomination forms, they render the “direct primary” useless. They create a scenario where the only option left for party members is a “consensus” candidate handpicked by the governor—not because he is the popular choice, but because he is the only choice left standing.
We must ask these governors: what are you afraid of? If your chosen aspirant is truly popular, why must you deprive others of the right to contest? Why must you use the machinery of the state to purchase silence and exclusion?
This undemocratic action must be discouraged, fought against, and stopped. It is inimical to the growth of our democracy. It perpetuates the very cycle of impunity that the delegates system was known for, merely swapping one form of manipulation for another.
We call on the conscience of every party leader, the National Working Committees of all political parties, and the Nigerian public to condemn this practice. We urge INEC to extend its monitoring mandate to the sale of nomination forms, ensuring that access is fair, open, and unrestricted, as the law implies.
Furthermore, we call on well-meaning governors who truly believe in the party structure to allow internal democracy to prevail. Let the aspirants buy their own forms. Let them test their popularity. Let the party members, through direct primaries, decide who their flag bearers will be.
Democracy is not a transaction to be managed by the highest officeholder; it is a sacred trust. If we allow governors to decide who gets to buy forms, we are allowing them to decide who gets to lead us. That path leads only to tyranny, mediocrity, and the eventual collapse of party loyalty.
The fight for internal democracy is the fight for the soul of our nation. Nigerians deplore, condemn, and are outrightly against the overreach of these governors. We urge all and sundry—civil society, the press, and the electorate—to stand firm. Let us ensure that the 2026 primaries are decided at the polling units, not in the bank accounts of state governors.
Baba Ali Kellu
Political Analyst
Politics Without Borders.
