• INEC unveils 2025-2026 election timetable, resumes voter registration
• To release fresh guidelines for reviewing election results 

A new report released by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has raised the alarm over the increasing cost of politics in Nigeria. 
  
This was as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unveiled a comprehensive electoral timetable for 2025 and 2026, including five major elections and the nationwide resumption of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).
  
It also said it would issue a supplementary regulation to clarify the review process for election results under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022. 
  
WFD revealed that post-election litigation might require as much as N1 billion for contesting or defending a mandate.
  
According to the report, the country’s democratic future is at risk as women, youth and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) are being priced out of the political space, adding that justice itself is now only affordable to the highest bidders.
  
In its latest report, ‘How Money is Undermining Nigeria’s Democracy’, launched in Abuja, yesterday, and supported by the European Union (EU) under the WYDE Civic Engagement project, the organisation noted that with Nigeria’s political economy, a House of Representatives ticket can cost up to N500 million
   
The document revealed that some senior lawyers now charge between N500 million and N1 billion per client to handle election disputes from the tribunal level to the Supreme Court.
   
This trend, the report said, has turned the judiciary into a strategic, yet prohibitively expensive extension of the electoral process.
  
According to WFD, top governorship candidates in Edo and Ondo states spent between N2.3 billion and N3.8 billion in the 2024 off-cycle elections. 
  
It said that despite the Electoral Act setting firm campaign spending limits, enforcement remains weak or non-existent.
  
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, during the second quarterly consultative meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (INEC) in Abuja, yesterday, said: “The five major elections highlighted in the new timetable include by-elections in 12 states, slated for August 16, 2025, followed by the Anambra State Governorship election on November 8, 2025. Looking into 2026, the schedule includes Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on February 21, 2026, the Ekiti State Governorship election on June 20, 2026, and the Osun State Governorship election on August 8, 2026.”
  
The electoral body, in a statement on its official X handle, said it is gearing up for a busy period, with a series of crucial polls scheduled across various states.
  
Yakubu also announced the nationwide resumption of the CVR exercise. “Online pre-registration will commence on August 18, 2025, followed by in-person registration across the country from August 25, 2025. For Anambra, ahead of its governorship election, the CVR will begin earlier, next week, and will be conducted simultaneously in all 326 wards to ensure the compilation of a new voters’ register at least 90 days before the election, as required by law.”
  
During the meeting, Yakubu welcomed two newly appointed National Commissioners, Prof Sunday Aja and Abdulrazak Yusuf, as well as six recently sworn-in RECs attending the meeting for the first time.
  
He emphasised the critical role of RECs in election management, urging them to proactively implement policy and procedural issues without constant prompting from the Headquarters. 
  
INEC said its intervention became necessary amid growing concerns over conflicting interpretations of the provision.
  
“As we approach the by-elections, the off-cycle governorship elections and ultimately the 2027 general election, the commission is concerned with the various interpretations given to the provision of Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 on the review of election results. 
  
“Pursuant to our powers to issue regulations, guidelines and manuals to give effect to the provisions of the Electoral Act and for its administration, the Commission is working on a supplement to the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022 to provide clarity on the review of declaration and return at elections”, Yakubu said.
 
He added that the supplementary guidelines might be released this week and made publicly available via INEC’s website and other official platforms.