House of reps makes Court of Appeal the final stop for pre-election disputes

The House of Representatives has amended the Electoral Act 2026 to establish clearer rules for handling pre-election disputes, ending a long-standing problem where politicians exploited gaps in the law to drag cases through multiple courts.

Under the changes, disputes over party primaries and other pre-election matters for governorship, national assembly, and state house of assembly elections will start at the Federal High Court. Any appeal must go to the Court of Appeal, which has the final say. For presidential elections, the process starts directly at the Court of Appeal, with only the Supreme Court able to overturn its decisions.

The amendment expressly bars any other court from hearing pre-election cases, closing the loopholes that allowed politicians to file the same dispute in different courts simultaneously — a practice known as forum shopping.

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Adebayo Balogun, chairman of the electoral matters committee, who presented the bill during Wednesday’s plenary, said the changes would bring “clarity, certainty, and uniformity” to how election disputes are resolved and ensure they are settled faster.

Serving court papers by email

The house also updated the rules on how election petition documents are delivered. Candidates will now be required to submit a verifiable address, email, and phone number to the Independent National Electoral Commission in the state where they are contesting. Serving court papers by email or SMS will be legally valid, and a respondent cannot escape a case simply by ignoring or refusing to acknowledge such messages.

Balogun said the change would cut delays and prevent politicians from dodging legal proceedings. The amendment still needs Senate approval and President Bola Tinubu’s signature before it becomes law.