Nigeria's two largest opposition parties face possible exclusion from the 2027 elections after the Supreme Court put off its decision on their internal leadership crises on Wednesday. A five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba heard appeals from both the African Democratic Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party but gave no indication when it would rule.
The leadership disputes have torn both parties apart for months. Each party is split between rival factions claiming to be the legitimate leadership, and the courts have been the battleground where these groups fight for control. The Supreme Court's decision to reserve judgment means the ruling could take weeks or even longer to come down.
If the court rules against either party, the consequences could be severe. Election officials may bar them from holding primaries ahead of 2027, which would prevent them from fielding candidates at all. That would be a catastrophic blow to both the ADC and PDP, which together represent the main opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
The timing matters enormously. Nigeria's election calendar is tight. For the 2027 polls to happen on schedule, parties need to settle their leadership questions and conduct primaries well before then. The longer the Supreme Court takes to decide, the less time the opposition parties have to sort themselves out and get ready to compete.
Both parties have argued their cases before the panel, but the justices gave nothing away on Wednesday. Justice Garba and his colleagues reserved judgment without giving any sense of which way they might lean. Now the two parties will have to wait for the court to issue its decision.
The Supreme Court will issue its ruling at a date to be announced. Until then, the leadership disputes in both parties remain unresolved, and the threat of election exclusion hangs over them.
