The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected the updated 2026–2027 electoral timetable released on Thursday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

ADC in a statement made available to newsmen yesterday signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, described the revised time table as a political instrument carefully structured to narrow democratic space and strengthen the hand of the incumbent administration ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The party noted that the timetable directs parties to conduct their primaries between April 23 and May 30, 2026, which it said, is only 55 to 92 days from now, but pointed out that Section 77(4) of the Electoral Act 2026, requires political parties to submit their digital membership registers to INEC not later than 2 April 2026, adding “That is only 34 days away.”

It also noted that Section 77(7) of the same Act further provides that any party that fails to submit its membership register within the stipulated time shall not be eligible to field a candidate for that election. “They are deliberately constructed barriers to exclude opposition from partaking in the coming election,” the statement further added.

The party further observed that Section 77(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 prescribes that the digital register of members must contain their name, sex, date of birth, address, state, local government, ward, polling unit, National Identification Number (NIN), and photograph in both hard and soft copies, while Section 77(6) prohibits the use of any pre-existing register other than the one that contains the specific information above, noting that failure to meet these requirements would result in the party’s disqualification.