Ex-INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, has advocated for stringent sanctions against politicians who disregard campaign guidelines, alerting that early electioneering is a serious threat to the credibility of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
Giving a keynote address to an INEC Roundtable on “The Challenges of Premature Campaigns” in Abuja on Wednesday, Jega also referred to early campaigns as an “undesirable aberration” which bestows disproportionate advantage on violators, deepens impunity, and detracts from law and order.
“Pre-mature election campaigns constitute an un-level playing field, debase the law, impose unfair advantage, spawn lawlessness, engender political tension, and can even precipitate conflict,” warned Jega.
Referring to the Electoral Act 2022, he reminded stakeholders that the campaigns are statutorily truncated to 150 days to the polling day and ought to end 24 hours before the voting day, reaffirming that any infraction prejudices INEC powers and Nigeria’s democracy.
But INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu explained that the commission is handicapped by loopholes in the law. While Section 94(2) of the Act provides a ₦500,000 sanction for campaigns within 24 hours of voting, no sanction can be enforced where campaigns take place before the lawful 150-day period.
Yakubu lamented that politicians are “forever in campaign mode,” using billboards, rallies, charity events, and social media advertising to get around the law. They debase the tracking of campaign money and divert from leadership, he said.
INEC National Commissioner and TEI Chairman, Professor Abdullahi Zuru, also pointed out that pre-campaigns increasingly use cultural and religious celebrations, as well as social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X, making it challenging to enforce.
He warned: “Unseemly visibility competitions mar fairness, bloat campaign spending, and divert officials from governance to political survival. We must redefine early campaigning in the information age and improve enforcement to rescue democracy.”
Despite INEC’s drawbacks, Jega insisted that effective sanctions are essential to maintain electoral integrity, urging parliament to act swiftly to close legal loopholes before 2027.
