A busier start to the week in Nigerian politics, dominated by a court ruling that has thrown one opposition party's registration into doubt just as candidate filing for the 2027 elections gets under way. Here is what happened and why it matters — told plainly and without endorsement.
A court sets aside the NDC's registration
On Friday, 26 June 2026, a Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, presided over by Justice Isa Dashen, set aside its own earlier judgment of 10 December 2025 that had directed INEC to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). The court held that the December ruling had affected the rights of the Peace Movement Party (PMP) — which claims ownership of the logo the NDC relied on — even though the PMP had not been joined as a party in the original case. The certified true copy of the judgment emerged on 28 June.
The NDC's leadership has called the ruling legally unsustainable, said it does not amount to a deregistration, and confirmed it is challenging the decision at the Court of Appeal and has sought a stay. The party also says INEC has not issued it the access code needed to upload candidates on the nomination portal, and it maintains that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, will be on the 2027 ballot. INEC officials have indicated the commission will take a position after studying the certified copy of the ruling.
Why it matters: until the courts settle the party's status — and until it can or cannot file candidates within INEC's window — there is real uncertainty about whether the NDC's names will appear on the 2027 ballot. For voters, it is a reminder that some of the choices on offer are still being decided in court rather than at the ballot box.
Opposition figures allege a squeeze; the APC and INEC respond
Reaction to the ruling came quickly over the weekend. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) condemned the judgment, alleging a coordinated effort to weaken opposition parties and warning that the country risks sliding toward a one-party state. The senior lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) voiced concern about a pattern of Federal High Court decisions he said could undermine multi-party democracy. The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has consistently rejected such claims, saying opposition parties' troubles are internal and self-inflicted rather than externally driven, while INEC has said it acts on valid court orders and will respond once it has studied the judgment.
The arguments land alongside a separate case in which an Abuja court earlier ordered INEC to deregister five parties — the ADC, Accord, the Action Peoples Party, Action Alliance and the Zenith Labour Party — a decision the Court of Appeal stayed and is due to hear on 7 July.
Why it matters: how many parties make it onto the 2027 ballot shapes how much choice voters have. These are competing political claims — of a deliberate squeeze on one side, of self-inflicted disputes on the other — and the courts, not the rhetoric, will settle the outcome. We report the claims and the responses without taking a position on either.
Where candidate nominations stand
INEC's candidate-nomination portal opened for presidential and National Assembly candidates at 9 a.m. on Saturday, 27 June, and closes at 6 p.m. on 11 July 2026; uploads for governorship and state assembly candidates run later, from 18 July to 8 August. The process is anchored in Section 29 of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires nominations to be filed within a set window before the polls. So far, parties have publicly confirmed little beyond their presidential tickets, with most governorship, National Assembly and state-assembly names still to be made public — in some cases because results remain disputed inside the parties.
Why it matters: this two-stage filing window is the step that turns announced tickets into official entries. The full set of names voters will choose from should become clearer over the coming weeks as parties complete their uploads and INEC publishes the lists.
A new survey ranks the National Assembly least trusted
A report released over the weekend by the Africa Polling Institute, an independent pollster, found that the National Assembly is now Nigeria's least trusted public institution, narrowly overtaking the police: about 23 percent of respondents said they trust the legislature, against 24 percent for the police. The study, based on more than 5,300 face-to-face interviews nationwide, also put the country's overall Social Cohesion Index at 48.8 percent — a slight rise on the previous year — and found religious leaders and traditional rulers remain the most trusted figures.
Why it matters: trust in elected institutions is part of the backdrop to any election. A finding that the body Nigerians elect to represent them ranks lowest on trust speaks to the climate in which the 2027 campaign will unfold, whichever parties end up on the ballot.
PoliticsDirect is non-partisan. This brief draws on reporting from outlets including Premium Times, The Punch, Vanguard, The Guardian, ThisDay, Arise News, Tribune and Businessday, alongside INEC's own statements. We describe events; we do not endorse parties or candidates.