In 2027,INEC password won’t swear in a president. The constitution will….

By Dr Tom Ohikere

Access to INEC’s portal is not the same as access to legality. That is the law, the precedent, and the warning to Nyesom Wike’s faction of the PDP ahead of 2027.

1. What Political Parties Are:

Parties are voluntary associations. They recruit members and leaders under rules written in their constitutions. Those constitutions are subject to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held: membership, leadership, and administration of parties are internal matters, settled by the legitimate organs of the party — not by whoever grabs a password.

2. The Wike Threat

At a recent Abuja gathering, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike boasted to loyalists that his group has “INEC access code” to upload PDP candidates for 2027. He used it to threaten the PDP Interim National Working Committee [INWC] led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN.

But INEC access code is a technical tool. It is not a judgment. It does not cure illegality.

3. Precedents: Zamfara, Plateau, Taraba

Nigeria has seen this movie before:

– Zamfara 2019: APC “won” all seats with candidates uploaded via INEC portal. Courts voided them. The beneficiaries were not the names INEC displayed. They were the parties and candidates who followed due process.

– Plateau 2023: PDP “won” elections. Courts removed them for invalid nomination. Opposition candidates who were never on INEC’s portal before election day became senators and Reps.

– Southern Taraba 2023: APC’s Senator David Jumkuta won against the party’s most popular aspirant, Hon. Danjuma Shiddi, because the nomination process was compromised.

Ask Wike: Were the final winners in those states on INEC’s portal _ab initio_? No. The courts looked beyond the portal. They looked at who had the legal right to nominate. The portal followed the law. The law did not follow the portal.

4. Who Legally Runs PDP Today?

Since 4th May 2026, the only PDP national structure with legal cover is the 13-man Interim National Working Committee chaired by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN. It was constituted by the PDP Board of Trustees and 2/3 of NEC members at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

Why? Because:

1. 1st November 2025, The legitimate PDP NWC under Amb. Damagum Umar Iliya suspended a bloc of national officers, including former Legal Adviser Chief Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN.

2. 3rd November 2025.. Those suspended officers illegally announced a “Caretaker Committee” led by Abdulrahman Mohammed and shared offices among themselves.

3. March 2026 The same suspended group held an illegal “national convention” and returned themselves to the offices they were suspended from.

4. 30th April 2026 The Supreme Court reiterated that compliance with court orders is mandatory and that parties’ legitimate authorities control membership and administration.

5. 3rd June 2026, The Court of Appeal affirmed that Ajibade SAN was legally suspended and had no authority to act for PDP. It said Justice Agomoh of the Ibadan Federal High Court acted _ultra petita_ in ordering INEC to recognize Wike’s faction, but did not set aside the order. So INEC complies — for now.

5. The Case in Court

The PDP BOT and 2/3 of NEC are now before the Federal High Court, Abuja, asking it to:

a. Interpret the Supreme Court and Appeal Court judgments on PDP leadership;

b. Compel INEC to recognize the Turaki SAN-led INWC;

c. Direct INEC to issue the INWC access codes to upload 2027 candidates.

The matter comes up Tuesday, 30th June 2026. It will likely end at the Supreme Court again.

6. The Bottom Line

INEC’s recognition of the Wike-backed Abdulrahman Mohammed group is administrative obedience to a subsisting Ibadan order. It is not validation. The Supreme Court said you must obey orders — even bad ones — until set aside. That’s why INEC is dealing with them. Not because they are legal.

If the Turaki INWC wins in court, its candidates win in 2027 — whether they are on the portal today or not. If Wike’s group wins, its candidates win. The portal is a servant of the judgment. Not the other way round.

7. To PDP Members.

Have faith in due process. Going to court is not desperation. It is democracy. Zamfara, Plateau, and Taraba prove that notorious actors can upload names today and lose everything tomorrow.

The law, not the login, decides.

Dr Tom Ohikere is a public affairs analyst and former commissioner for information Kogi State.