Lawyer and public affairs analyst Victor Opatola has warned that political parties risk serious legal consequences if they fail to follow their own guidelines and constitutional provisions during party primaries.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News, Opatola said Nigeria’s Electoral Act provides strong protections for aspirants participating in party primaries and internal screening processes.
“Political parties cannot ignore their own primary guidelines,” he said.
Opatola explained that the Electoral Act requires political parties to strictly comply with the rules and procedures they establish for screening aspirants and conducting primaries.
“Section 88 provides that parties must abide by the guidelines,” he stated.
According to him, parties cannot arbitrarily impose conditions outside what is already recognised under the Nigerian Constitution.
“Political parties cannot impose conditions outside of what the constitution has provided,” he said.
Opatola noted that aspirants who are screened out unfairly or subjected to irregular processes have legal grounds to seek redress.
“You have a cause for redress,” he stated.
He explained that aggrieved aspirants must first utilise the internal dispute resolution mechanisms established by their political parties before proceeding to court.
“You must go through what the party has provided as a guideline,” he said.
According to Opatola, many political parties deliberately create ambiguous or complicated internal dispute systems to discourage legal challenges from members.
“Political parties do not want their members to approach the court,” he stated.
However, he stressed that aspirants still retain the constitutional right to seek judicial intervention where party processes become unfair or unreasonable.
“When you feel it is no longer feasible… you approach the court,” he said.
Opatola also said that candidates who emerge from flawed primaries remain vulnerable to legal challenges even after securing party tickets.
“Your candidacy is in serious jeopardy,” he stated.
According to him, courts are increasingly willing to nullify party primaries where clear evidence of irregularities exists.
“A candidate that has proof can easily nullify that particular primary,” he said.
Opatola further defended restrictions preventing aspirants from defecting immediately after losing party primaries, arguing that the policy is intended to strengthen institutional political parties.
“We want political parties to be parties of ideologies,” he stated.
He explained that unrestricted defections weaken party structures and reduce political parties to mere vehicles for power acquisition.
“We want them to have a formal institutional structure,” he said.
On the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Opatola clarified that the commission’s involvement during primaries remains largely observational.
“The role of INEC in terms of primaries is observatory,” he stated.
But, he said that INEC must also develop clearer administrative guidelines, especially regarding implementation of court judgments and dispute management.
“INEC must issue guidelines towards everything,” he said.
According to him, the commission should avoid acting unilaterally on sensitive electoral matters without first consulting affected political parties.
“INEC should call the parties to make representations,” he stated.
Opatola also dismissed suggestions that aggrieved aspirants could legally run as independent candidates under Nigeria’s current constitutional framework.
“Our constitution has not fully recognised independent candidature,” he said.
He stressed that political parties remain central to Nigeria’s democratic structure under existing laws.
“Political parties are central engines towards democracy,” he added.
Opatola concluded that political parties must strictly comply with electoral laws and their own internal guidelines during primaries, warning that aspirants who can prove irregularities retain strong legal grounds to challenge flawed processes through party mechanisms and the courts.
By Ojo Triumph
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