2027: Early campaigns championed by incumbent candidates, parties – Jega calls for sanctions

A former National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, has warned that aspirants and political parties would continue to violate the laws by engaging in premature election campaigns if stiffer measures are not taken to sanction them.

DAILY POST reports that premature election campaigns are basically campaigns done outside the legally defined period.

Jega noted that the more these laws are vaguely defined and poorly sanctioned, the more likely the violations by political parties and candidates.

According to the Professor of Political Science, premature campaigns create an uneven playing field; disrespect and violate the law; confer unfair advantages to parties and candidates who jump the gun; breed and entrench a culture of lawlessness and impunity; create political tensions; and may even generate tensions and conflicts and undermine law and order.

“Hence effective sanctioning is essentially the panacea for addressing the challenges of all election campaigns, especially premature campaigns,” he said at INEC’s Roundtable on the Challenges of Premature Campaigns in Abuja on Wednesday.

Jega, who was the keynote speaker at the event held at INEC Electoral Institute, noted that premature election campaigns are undesirable aberrations in democratic elections, posing serious challenges to the integrity of elections.

“If not appropriately checked, they pose one of the most serious threats to elections and undermine the integrity of the entire electoral process,” he added.

“To protect the integrity of the electoral process, most electoral systems require campaigns to be conducted according to the rules and regulations provided in the electoral legal framework; with due respect to the calendar of the elections; respecting the right and freedom of other parties to organize and campaign and reach out to the voters; respecting the election managers and not interfering with the performance of their duties; and using the official complaint process and the legal system for appeals (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, 2012).”

He said it was regrettable that premature campaigning has remained inadequately regulated and has become increasingly widespread, characterized mainly by the display of posters featuring politicians, across political parties, but especially of incumbents, at both federal and state levels.

According to him, the allegations that some parties and candidates sponsor these premature campaigns hiding behind dubious illegal “third parties” cannot be overlooked.

DAILY POST reports that two years to the 2027 general elections, the campaign billboards of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are already littered across the federal capital territory and other parts of the country.

“There is no doubt that, currently in Nigeria, the prevalence of premature campaigns raises serious challenges to the preparations and conduct of the 2027 elections, and therefore needs to be sanitized urgently,” he added.

“It is being done quite brazenly, especially by incumbent elected officials at all levels and tiers of government.

He said that from the provisions of the constitution, it is clear that jumping the gun is prohibited.

“The Electoral Act provides a specific timeline for the start of campaigns. Any form of premature campaigning violates this provision, undermining INEC’s authority and the rule of law.

“This creates an uneven playing field; it also reduces political competition, and ultimately escalates campaign spending. Similarly, premature campaigns shift focus from governance to politics, especially when incumbents engage in early campaigning, and divert attention to politicking rather than fulfilling their mandates to the electorate.

“Indeed, in the Nigerian context, premature campaigns quite often heat up the polity, increase political rivalry, as well as engender hate speech and ethno-religious polarization.

“This often triggers violence, especially in politically volatile areas, deters peaceful political participation, and weakens the enforcement mechanism to punish the offenders,” he added.

Jega noted that there are so many ways politicians exploit legal loopholes to engage in premature campaigns, such as “consultative meetings, project commissioning, ceremonial events, and distribution of so-called palliatives.”

“These acts ultimately make laws become ineffective; they encourage a culture of impunity, particularly for the ruling parties at all levels of governance in the federation.”

2027: Early campaigns championed by incumbent candidates, parties – Jega calls for sanctions