By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Ahead of the 2027 general elections, stakeholders in Nigeria’s electoral circle on yesterday converged on Abuja to deliberate on the challenges posed by premature election campaigns by politicians and political parties.
At a stakeholders roundtable organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to examine the “challenges of premature campaigns”, there were divergent opinions regarding the growing resort of politicians to early election campaigns.
Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, who delivered a keynote, raised fresh concerns over the growing trend of premature election campaigns in Nigeria, warning that the practice posed grave dangers to the integrity of the 2027 general elections if not urgently addressed.
The former INEC chairman described early campaigns as one of the most serious threats to Nigeria’s democratic process.
Polls threatened
In his keynote, Jega said campaigns conducted outside the legally prescribed period conferred unfair advantages on certain candidates, undermine the rule of law, heat up the polity and entrench a culture of impunity among political actors.
Jega said “matured democrats” were largely responsible for early campaigns and violations of election rules.
He added that lawmakers were beneficiaries of early campaigns and, therefore, most unlikely to make laws to impose stiffer penalties on premature campaigners.
“Premature election campaigns are undesirable aberrations in democratic elections. They create an uneven playing field, disrespect the law, and may even generate political tension and conflict,” he cautioned.
Jega, a professor of Political Science at Bayero University, Kano, noted that while the Electoral Act 2022 clearly stipulated that campaigns should begin 150 days before polling and end 24 hours to the election, politicians across parties, especially incumbents, routinely violate this provision.
He lamented the widespread use of billboards, posters, project commissioning and state resources for veiled political messaging, often disguised as third-party campaigns.
“These so-called support groups, with dubious financing, most likely breach campaign finance laws. Sadly, when incumbents engage in such acts and get away with them, a spiral of lawlessness is unleashed,” he said.
On his part, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, expressed concerns over the rising trend of premature political campaigns across the country, warning that early electioneering remained a threat to electoral integrity and fuelled unregulated political spending.
Yakubu noted that Section 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 clearly prohibited campaigns from starting earlier than 150 days before polling day and ending 24 hours prior to the election.
However, he lamented that political actors, including parties, candidates and third-party agents, have continued to flout this provision.
“Across the country, we have seen outdoor advertising, media campaigns, and even rallies promoting candidates long before INEC releases the official timetable. These actions undermine our ability to track campaign finance, as huge sums of money are being expended outside the legal framework,” Yakubu said.
‘Why we can’t act’
He cited a major legal gap in the Act, explaining that while mild sanctions of up to N500,000 existed for campaigns held within 24 hours before an election, there were no penalties for campaigns conducted earlier than the 150-day legal threshold.
“Here lies the challenge for the commission in dealing with early campaigns by political parties, prospective candidates, and their supporters,” the INEC boss stressed.
Yakubu said the commission convened the roundtable to allow stakeholders, including the National Assembly, political parties, the Nigerian Bar Association, the National Broadcasting Commission, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, and civil society groups, propose actionable recommendations.
He expressed confidence that the deliberations, alongside the keynote address delivered by former INEC chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, would help shape reforms, especially as the National Assembly was currently reviewing the country’s electoral laws.
“Protecting our electoral process and consolidating our democracy is a multi-stakeholder task,” Yakubu emphasized.
Lawmaker disagrees
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Adebayo Balogun, in his presentation, said Nigeria’s election cycles now included off-season elections, meaning that different elections were conducted each year, hence politicians had to campaign regularly.
He said when opposition parties organise rallies to oppose policies of government such fuel subsidy removal, such parties were also embarking on early campaigns, noting that there was need to, in a democracy, be clear as to what constituted a violation of the laws, with regards to campaigns.
Raising posers for the stakeholders, Balogun said: “When the government is commissioning a project, or when a house member is commissioning a constituency project, he starts a campaign. Then, when the opposition organises their own rallies to oppose any programme of the ruling government, it is also a campaign.
“So, we need to really check what we are actually referring to as campaign. The CSOs, every day, talk about policies of government, either for or against. The fuel subsidy debate is still on. It is either you support it or you are opposing it. Do we consider this as campaigns?
“Even the American president, up till today, is still talking about his own government. So I think, like I said, this could not have come at a better time. I believe we should dedicate ourselves to this programme to search our minds.
‘’Should we still have any law restricting campaigns? Is that what is obtainable in other parts of the world? Because if we are not careful, we will still continue to take some of these programmes we went through during the military regime, where you were given two days, one week to campaign, and after that period, if you were caught, you were jailed.
‘’We are in a democracy. The social media space cannot even be controlled and we have to be careful when we make some of these laws.’’
We’ll enforce all duly enacted laws – Police
On his part, the Inspector General of Police IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, raised two queries for stakeholders to deliberate on.
Represented by Abayomi Shogunle, the Commissioner of Police in charge of election monitoring, the IGP queried: “Do we really need to continue to regulate in 2025 based on the fact that there is need to bridge the gap between our leaders and the public? That is one.
“Two, every law that is made, we in enforcement have a duty to enforce, and then we need to ask ourselves again, what are the relevance of these laws to issue of society and development? Those are the issues we have to seriously look into.”
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