The National Assembly is proposing an amendment to the Electoral Act 2022 to abolish the current arrangement of staggering our general elections and instead consolidate them on one day. If this amendment is passed, the Presidential, Governorship, National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly elections will be conducted on the same day.

Indeed, the federal lawmakers have specifically named 20th  November 2026 as the purported day for the elections. This will give clear 185 days between the general elections and handover date to enable the judiciary complete election petition cases before handover. This will mitigate the trend of those declared winner (especially fresh contestants) already exercising power while their victory is still being challenged at the tribunal.

This proposal looks very attractive on its face value. Elections are all about the will of the electorate. Conducting all elections on the same day promotes prevalence of the popular will. Staggered elections are advantageous to those already in power. It produces the bandwagon or knock-on effect, as many uncommitted voters tend to vote for “winning parties”, as they do not want to “waste” their votes.

A good example was the case of Lagos State in 2023. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lost the presidential election to the Labour Party held on 23rd  February 2023. If not for the three-week gap before the Governorship Election, APC would have lost the state to the Labour Party. Also, it makes sense that enough time is given for election tribunals to complete entertainment of election petitions before confirmed winners are sworn into office.

It is unjust for those whose mandates are being challenged to fight their legal cases from public office and spending public resources while their opponents spend from their pockets. The major challenge involved in consolidated elections is the ability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cope with the huge logistical burdens involved. Even in state and legislative elections and by-elections, complaints of late arrival of INEC officials and electoral materials are still very rife. Sometimes, some rogue INEC officials collude with politicians to orchestrate these delays to compromise elections.

For consolidated elections to produce the expected results, two major things must be done. The INEC must perfect its logistical strategies and ensure that its officials and electoral materials arrive on time. Secondly, the INEC must clean out its technological devices to enable them deliver real-time. The voter identification, accreditation, voting and result transmission must work seamlessly. Otherwise, we might run into embarrassing and potentially nightmarish situations of election-day cancellations as we saw during the Prof Attahiru Jega tenure at INEC. The National Assembly must ascertain whether the INEC under its new helmsman, Prof Joash Amupitan, is ready to shoulder the burden of same-day general elections before proceeding. It is a good idea if INEC can cope.