The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that candidates of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) will be eligible to participate in the bye-elections scheduled for twelve states of the federation, based on a court order.
According to INEC, it is in receipt of a judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1525/2025, which ordered that SDP candidates should be allowed to participate in the election scheduled for Saturday, 16th August, 2025.
The electoral umpire added that, in compliance with the court order, SDP candidates would be allowed to participate in the election even though their primary elections were not monitored, as the party failed to submit a valid notice for the conduct of primaries for the bye-elections.
The position of INEC was made known in a statement made available to Naija News on Friday by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information & Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun.
The statement assured that the late-hour judgement will not affect the scheduled election, and the list of SDP candidates has been manually accepted.
Olumekun added that INEC, however, intends to appeal the court ruling.
“The Commission has been served with the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1525/2025. In the judgement, the Commission was ordered to include the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidates in the bye-elections in 12 States of the Federation.
“The party did not earlier submit a valid notice for the conduct of primaries for the bye-elections. For this reason, they were not monitored by the Commission.
“However, in compliance with the judgement, the names of the candidates submitted manually have been accepted and published on our website. The party will participate in the bye-elections.
“The Commission wishes to assure the public, especially voters in the 12 States, that the 11th-hour judgement will not affect the election which will proceed tomorrow Saturday 16th August 2025 as scheduled.
“Meanwhile, the Commission will exercise its legitimate right of appeal under the law,” the statement read.
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