The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected the proposal by the National Assembly to move the 2027 general elections to November 2026.
It could be recalled that the proposal was made public on Monday at a joint public hearing in Abuja.
However, the ADC, while rejecting the date change, said it could undermine governance in the country.
National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, in a statement on Tuesday, was of the view that bringing the election date forward would push Nigeria into a perpetual campaign cycle, shorten the effective period for governance.
Acccorind to him, "cutting the current political calendar by six months, the proposal threatens to push Nigeria into a state of permanent electioneering, where politics dominates governance and development is perpetually on hold.
"In practice, elections happening in November 2026 mean campaigns will begin as early as 2025. That leaves barely two years of real governance before the political noise takes over.
“The President, ministers, governors, and other public officials vying for office or campaigning for others will shift their focus from performance to positioning. Policies will stall, projects will be abandoned, and the entire system will tilt towards 2026 instead of 2027.
"Even without the amendments, we can see with the current APC government what happens to a country where an administration is obsessed with power rather than the welfare of the people.
“Even under the current timetable, the incumbent structures at the state and federal levels are already campaigning. In this regard, moving the elections backward will only accelerate this unhealthy trend and reduce our democracy to mere electioneering.
"If the goal of the proposed amendment is to ensure that election petitions are concluded before inaugurations, the answer is not to cut short tenures or rush the electoral process.
"The solution lies in strengthening our institutions by enforcing strict timelines for tribunals, reforming electoral laws, and improving the capacity of the judiciary and INEC".
