Elections18 February 2026
Tinubu Signs Electoral Act 2026, Replacing 2022 Law Ahead of Polls
The new Electoral Act gives statutory backing to electronic result transmission, mandates direct party primaries, and tightens campaign finance rules ahead of January 2027.
President Tinubu signed the Electoral Act 2026 into law on 18 February 2026, replacing the 2022 legislation ahead of the general election and introducing several structural changes to how the vote will be run and contested.
The new law gives statutory recognition to INEC's Result Viewing Portal (IReV) and now mandates the electronic transmission of polling-unit result forms directly to the portal — an obligation that did not exist under the old Act. It also requires election funds due to INEC to be released no later than six months before the next general election.
On the party side, the Act now requires candidates to be nominated by direct primaries or consensus, explicitly bars political appointees from serving as voting delegates or aspirants in party primaries, and moves the candidate-list submission deadline from 180 days to 120 days before election day.
The revised law also tightens campaign finance rules — governing contribution limits, candidate spending caps, a ban on political parties holding foreign funds, and mandatory expenditure reporting — all provisions the APC Presidential Campaign Council must now operate within as it builds out its 2027 mobilisation effort.
Published by YFT — Yari for Tinubu, the grassroots mobilisation platform aligned with the APC Presidential Campaign Council. The same article is available to members inside the app.
