Adebayo Balogun is Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters. In this interview, he explained the rationale for the proposal for the general elections to hold in November, 2026.

What is the position of the House on concerns being raised over some provisions in the electoral act amendment bill 2025?

This is still a public hearing stage. There is no position of the House yet until we conclude. So we cannot be speculative. It is a proposal, it is an ongoing thing. Until you do the consideration and third reading, that is when it becomes a position of the House. So everything is still speculative for now. There is no need for agitation by people. The documents were circulated to the people at the public hearing. It is until we consider it and we get the final position out. The documents are explicit enough.

Yes, the documents are explicit but there are concerns over some provisions particularly, the one that proposes that election should hold in November 2026 instead of February 2027. Why the proposal at this time?

The provision is because we want to provide enough time to conclude litigations arising from the elections. That’s why I said the document is explicit enough. We want to conclude litigations. People are proposing that all litigations be concluded before swearing in. And the minimum time, you can use for the litigation is six months. So count it. If six months is the minimum you can use for the litigation, then, that provision has to be made. It used to be almost a year before it was reduced to six months. So, six months from May 2027, when new president is to be sworn in, count six months backward, it’s going to be nothing later than November 2026. The proposal is from people, from CSOs and the public. There are the ones proposing that litigations be concluded before swearing in. It is what the people want it, it’s not the House. So if you want it, this is what it’s going to look like. It’s going to look like this. Is it going to be convenient at the end of the day? That’s another thing. That is the earliest date you can have. It used to be one year before. They have reduced it to 90 days. You know the position of the law, what they are not proposing, what is the implication. And it’s very explicit in the documents circulated that day.

But Nigerians and stakeholders are reading meaning to the proposed amendment, that, it is a move to favour the incumbent president and the ruling APC. What do you say to that?

Who is the person reacting? Is it the same people that say they want conclusions of litigations before swearing in is done? Can it be achieved if you don’t give the time? Can you eat your cake and still have it?

Some of the political parties are already saying that 2026 is too early for them, because they had already set their minds for 2027. Is it what they want or what the people say? The law is about what we all agree upon at the end of the day. That’s why you do public hearing. And at the public hearing, many people were applauding it. Yes, you have to complete litigation before the swearing in. They were happy with it. If it’s going to scale through at the House at the end of the day, it’s a different ball game. All parties are represented in the House to make their inputs during the consideration. So, if it’s going to succeed or they will go back to what it used to be at the end of the day, we will know. It’s still a proposal. It’s not yet approved. It’s a proposal based on what we compiled from requests from the public. We are compiling requests from the public. That’s why we are doing public presentation now. These are the things we agreed on during the hearing. And nobody there said they did not like it. Everybody was saying we want it this way. As to whether the whole House, the general House will accept it or not, it’s another game. It will get to the House for consideration and every party is there; Labour, NNPP, everybody is there. The committee is less than 10 per cent of the total House. So, when the committee presents its report at the end of the day, there will be a general vote. So, if you like any of this provisions, go and meet your representative to support it during the consideration. Because it’s not just about saying, I like it and you sit down. By the time we vote, maybe your own member in the House will not even support it.

And for it to happen, the constitution has to be amended because the timeline is in the constitution not in the Electoral Act. So, what we want to do now is to remove it from the constitution and bring it to the Electoral Act; that’s when the amendment can take effect. We want to bring it to the Electoral Act so that when we want to do subsequent amendments, we don’t need to be going through constitution amendment because amending the constitution means you have to go to the states. So, if they don’t allow it to be removed, that provision, it can’t be effected in the Electoral Act until it is effected in the constitution.

But if this aspect does not pass through, will it affect the other provisions in the proposed amendments because they are quite a number of other provisions?

The removal of that provision will not affect the others. That’s why we have to conclude the constitution review on time. We are working together to ensure that we have synergy with the constitution review committee. That’s why we must conclude at the same time. The Electoral Act is dragging a bit now because of the constitution review. We are waiting for that because we know some of those things are still subject to the provisions of the constitution. If not, we would have concluded our own probably since last month. Our own does not need to go to the states. After this, we can go for third reading in the next one week and pass it but because of their own issues, we have to slow down. The constitution is supposed to have been in front. We are supposed to be coming behind them. So, if you read through the provisions of the Electoral Act, they are still things that are also subject to the constitution and the amendment is written there. This area is subject to the constitution. You will see it.

Some stakeholders said holding election in November 2026 is early and might affect preparations; what is your take?

They still have up to a year to prepare. If you are not prepared, you are not prepared. Even if it is November, they still have over a year to prepare. If you are not ready that means you are not ready. (Daily Trust)