The Independent National Electoral Commission has confirmed that candidates of the Social Democratic Party will now take part in Saturday’s bye-elections across 12 states following a court ruling delivered less than 24 hours to the polls.
This follows the judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1525/2025, which directed INEC to recognise the SDP and list its candidates for the elections.
According to INEC, the party had initially failed to submit a valid notice for the conduct of primaries for the bye-elections, which meant its primaries were not monitored by the electoral body as required by law.
Consequently, the SDP was earlier excluded from the list of participating political parties.
However, the commission said it has now complied with the court order.
“In obedience to the judgement, the names of the candidates submitted manually by the Social Democratic Party have been accepted and uploaded on our website,” said Sam Olumekun, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee.
He stressed that despite the “11th-hour” judgement, the bye-elections scheduled for Saturday, August 16, 2025, will proceed as planned.
“We want to reassure members of the public, particularly voters in the affected states, that tomorrow’s elections will go ahead without disruption,” Olumekun said.
He, however, noted that the commission would explore its legal options.
“INEC will exercise its legitimate right of appeal under the law,” he added.
The bye-elections are expected to fill vacant legislative seats across 12 states of the federation.