A dangerous shortcut: ADC warns National Assembly against turning Nigeria Into a perpetual campaign ground

A dangerous shortcut: ADC warns National Assembly against turning Nigeria Into a perpetual campaign ground

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By Our Reporter

Abuja | October 15, 2025

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has sounded a clear alarm over the National Assembly’s latest constitutional adventure, a proposal to shift the 2027 general elections backward to November 2026.

The party warns that behind the lawmakers’ sugar-coated excuse of “allowing more time to resolve election petitions” lies a dangerous shortcut that could wreck Nigeria’s democracy and turn the country into a permanent political circus.

In a hard-hitting statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC accused the National Assembly of playing politics with the Constitution at the expense of governance, accountability, and stability.

“By cutting the current political calendar by six months, the proposal threatens to push Nigeria into a state of permanent electioneering, where politics dominates governance and development is perpetually on hold,” the ADC declared.

The party warned that moving the 2027 elections to 2026 means campaigns would start in earnest by 2025 — barely halfway through the current administration. That, the ADC said, would leave Nigerians with “two years of governance and two years of politicking,” a cycle that benefits only the political class while leaving citizens trapped in endless promises and no delivery.

It noted that even under the current timetable, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has already turned government business into campaign rallies, obsessed more with political positioning than performance. “If this is how bad things are now, imagine what happens when we formally move elections into 2026 — governance will stop altogether,” the ADC warned.

“Policies will stall, projects will be abandoned, and the entire system will tilt towards 2026 instead of 2027. We’ve already seen this movie before; government offices becoming campaign centres while the people suffer.”

The ADC dismissed the National Assembly’s justification for the amendment as “lazy and self-serving,” arguing that Nigeria’s electoral problems stem not from the calendar but from weak institutions and lack of political will to enforce timelines for electoral justice.

Citing examples from Kenya, Ghana, Indonesia, and South Africa, the party reminded lawmakers that other democracies manage to conclude election petitions swiftly without tampering with tenures. Kenya’s Supreme Court, for instance, resolves presidential petitions within 14 days; Ghana’s within 42 days.

“The answer is not to shorten democracy but to strengthen it. You don’t fix inefficiency by rewriting the clock, you fix it by reforming the system,” the ADC stated

The party condemned what it called the National Assembly’s misplaced priorities, saying lawmakers appear more concerned with rearranging electoral dates than confronting the real crises Nigerians face — hunger, inflation, unemployment, and insecurity.

“The people of Nigeria are not just voters to be herded to the polls every two years; they are citizens who deserve governance as a right,” the statement emphasized, adding :“Nigeria cannot afford a system that allows government to campaign for two years and govern for two.”

The ADC urged the National Assembly to shelve the proposed amendment and focus instead on comprehensive electoral reform, including strict timelines for election tribunals, better training and funding for INEC, and constitutional provisions to enforce expedited judicial processes.

“This proposed amendment is a dangerous detour,” the ADC warned, pointing out that “It may look harmless on paper, but in practice, it will deepen the rot in our political system — rewarding politicians and punishing the people.”

The statement concludes with a stark reminder: every democracy that fails to draw a line between politics and governance ends up collapsing under the weight of its own deceit. Nigeria, the ADC says, must not walk that path again.

Full text of  the ADC Press Release reads:

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has noted the proposal by the National Assembly to amend the Constitution in order to hold the 2027 general elections in November 2026. While we understand the stated intent, which is to provide more time for the resolution of election petitions before the inauguration of a new administration, the ADC believes that this amendment risks creating deeper problems for Nigeria’s democracy than it seeks to solve.
By cutting the current political calendar by six months, the proposal threatens to push Nigeria into a state of permanent electioneering, where politics dominates governance and development is perpetually on hold.
In practice, elections happening in November 2026 mean campaigns will begin as early as 2025. That leaves barely two years of real governance before the political noise takes over. The President, ministers, governors, and other public officials vying for office or campaigning for others will shift their focus from performance to positioning. Policies will stall, projects will be abandoned, and the entire system will tilt towards 2026 instead of 2027.
Even without the amendments, we can see with the current APC government what happens to a country where an administration is obsessed with power rather than the welfare of the people. Even under the current timetable, the incumbent structures at the state and federal levels are already campaigning. In this regard, moving the elections backward will only accelerate this unhealthy trend and reduce our democracy to mere electioneering.
If the goal of the proposed amendment is to ensure that election petitions are concluded before inaugurations, the answer is not to cut short tenures or rush the electoral process. The solution lies in strengthening our institutions by enforcing strict timelines for tribunals, reforming electoral laws, and improving the capacity of the judiciary and INEC.
Other democracies have shown that it is possible to maintain fixed electoral timelines while ensuring quick adjudication of disputes. In Kenya, for instance, the Supreme Court must resolve presidential election petitions within 14 days under the 2010 Constitution. Indonesia’s Constitutional Court decides similar disputes within 14 working days after hearing, while Ghana’s Supreme Court is required to conclude presidential petitions within 42 days. Even in South Africa and other democracies, electoral cases are handled through expedited judicial processes. As these examples have shown, the amendment that we need is the one which ensures timely electoral justice through institutional efficiency, not by altering the election calendar to accommodate inefficiency.
Changing the date of elections without fixing the underlying weaknesses in our electoral matters adjudication and other fundamental electoral weaknesses will not solve the problem. Countries that manage early campaigns effectively do so with firm institutional safeguards.
 Congress (ADC)
The people of Nigeria are not just voters, they are citizens who expect good governance as dividends of democracy. Nigeria cannot afford a system that allows government to campaign for two years and govern for two.
The ADC therefore calls on the National Assembly to shelve this amendment and instead focus on comprehensive electoral reform that guarantees credible elections and quick dispute resolution, without making real service to the people appear merely incidental to politics and politicking.
Signed,
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi
National Publicity Secretary
African Democratic
14 October 2025

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