When the National Assembly hurriedly passed the 2026 Electoral Act into law, I openly criticised several provisions I considered deeply undemocratic and dangerous to Nigeria’s political future.
But many lawmakers were too blinded by the promise of automatic tickets from the Presidency to pay attention. They were willing to support virtually anything, as long as it served their immediate political interests.
One of the most controversial insertions was Section 77 of the Electoral Act, which made it mandatory for political parties to maintain a digital register of members and submit it to INEC at least 21 days before their primaries.
The implication was clear from the beginning: only individuals whose names appear on that submitted register can vote or contest during party primaries.
In practical terms, any politician who loses a primary election in “Party A” can no longer defect overnight to “Party B” in search of another ticket, because Party B’s membership register would have already been submitted and legally locked.
Any nomination obtained outside that register automatically becomes invalid.
But the lawmakers did not stop there.
Knowing how desperate some politicians can be during election season, they went further to criminalise dual party membership.
The law now makes it an offence for anyone to knowingly maintain membership in more than one political party before the primaries, punishable by imprisonment or a fine.
Despite the obvious attack on freedom of association and internal party democracy, the National Assembly still passed the law with little resistance because many believed they had secured their own political futures.
Ironically, the APC has now used the same law as a political weapon against some of those who helped create it.
Today, as party primaries continue to produce shocking outcomes, many politicians who failed to secure tickets have discovered that they cannot easily defect or seek alternatives. The political escape routes they once relied on have been legally blocked by the very law they enacted.
And the most ironic part is that they cannot even complain.
Because this is the same law they proudly passed, and today, it has returned to haunt them.
After all, no one sows beans and expects to harvest rice. Eventually, every man reaps what he sows.
Ekene Aninze Esq.
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Ossai Udom
