“Today, with APC primaries taking unexpected turns, many politicians are heading into permanent political retirement after 2027 because they were either not cleared or failed to secure tickets through the primaries.”
When the National Assembly was hurriedly passing the 2026 Electoral Act into law, I had called them out and demanded a total scrutiny of some of the provisions I considered highly undemocratic.
But the members of the National Assembly were so carried away by the promise of automatic tickets from the President that they were almost ready to turn a man into a woman as long as it pleased the Presidency.
It all started when the National Assembly stylishly inserted Section 77 into the Electoral Act, making it compulsory for political parties to maintain a digital register of all their members and submit it to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days before their primary elections.
What that indirectly means is that only individuals whose names appear on that pre-submitted digital register are legally permitted to vote or contest as aspirants during primaries.
In practical terms, if a politician loses a primary election in “Party A,” they cannot immediately jump to “Party B” to contest for another ticket. Why? Because Party B’s register would have already been legally locked weeks earlier, meaning the defector’s name would be missing from the register, thereby rendering any nomination he will get in “Party B” null and void.
But the National Assembly did not stop there.
They knew some politicians are extremely stubborn and can go to any length to get what they want, so they went further to criminalize the process by stating that an individual cannot hold concurrent membership in more than one political party. They also made it a criminal offence for anyone to knowingly register or maintain dual membership in two political parties before the primary season, with a punishment of one year imprisonment or option of fine.
As contrary to the spirit of freedom of association and as undemocratic as those provisions were, the 109 Senators and 360 House of Representatives members still accepted and passed them into law because they believed they had secured automatic tickets for themselves.
Unfortunately for them, APC beat them at their own game.
The same law they celebrated has now become the perfect weapon to stylishly retire some greedy politicians who saw the dangers ahead but chose to keep quiet because of personal interest.
Today, with APC primaries taking unexpected turns, many politicians are heading into permanent political retirement after 2027 because they were either not cleared or failed to secure tickets through the primaries.
And the funniest part of it all is this: they cannot even complain.
Because this is the same law they made with their own hands, and today, that same law has returned to hunt them mercilessly.
At the end of the day, a man cannot sow beans and reap rice, what a man sows he will certainly reap.
I am Ekene Aninze Esq .
