2027: High court judges get new guidelines for pre-election matters
- Atiku alleges plot to shield govt officials, implicate opposition in PFIPC scandal
Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, has issued the Federal High Court (Pre-Election) Practice Directions (Amendment), 2026, revising the rules governing how pre-election disputes are handled ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The amendment updates the original Federal High Court (Pre-Election) Practice Directions, 2026, which took effect on Friday, June 26, 2026.
In a statement yesterday, the Court’s Director of Information, Dr. Catherine Oby Christopher, said the amendment was made pursuant to Sections 254 and 285(9), (10) and (14) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and Sections 29(5) and 88(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, alongside other enabling powers vested in the Chief Judge.
According to the statement, the amendment is designed to strengthen the speedy, efficient and fair determination of pre-election matters in line with constitutional provisions, while also reinforcing the objectives of the Electoral Act, 2026, and other applicable laws.
The Court urged lawyers to familiarize themselves with the new rules to ensure swift adjudication of political cases likely to arise from the 2027 general elections.
Meanwhile, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has raised the alarm over alleged plot by the Federal Government to allegedly shield government officials implicated in the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal, from scrutiny.
Atiku, in statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the recent arrest of the self-styled Director-General of the PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi, as a calculated move allegedly intended to extract statements that could be deployed to implicate opposition figures rather than uncover the full truth behind the scandal.
The legality of the PFIPC has been trailed by controversy in recent times, with Adeyemi trading tackles with Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
On Tuesday, the former was arrested in connection with the scandal involving the agency, which the government has said is non-existent.
He stated that PFIPC controversy should not be reduced to the alleged actions of Adeyemi alone, noting that the weightier scandal is how the organisation, which the Presidency has disowned,allegedly penetrated the highest levels of government, obtained diplomatic recognition and accreditation, recruited more than 300 personnel, secured office accommodation at the National Secretariat and reportedly received N1.3 billion budgetary allocations, in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
According to him, “the scandal is not merely that one man allegedly impersonated public authority. The greater scandal is that the Tinubu administration allegedly opened the doors of the Nigerian state to him, allowed him to acquire the appearance and privileges of official legitimacy and permitted him to interact with institutions and diplomatic interests in the name of the Federal Government.”
Atiku, who is also the African Democratic Congress ( ADC) 2027 presidential candidate, added that the PFIPC controversy must also be viewed against the wider background of what he described “as mind-boggling profligacy and questionable appropriations embedded in the 2026 federal budget.”
He specifically drew attention to alleged allocation of N6.44 billion for a ‘Special Presidential Support Group for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers’, despite Nigeria having already been eliminated from the qualification process in November 2025—about one month before the 2026 budget was presented to and considered by the National Assembly.
“How does a serious government budget N6.44 billion for presidential support for World Cup qualifiers after the country had already been eliminated? What competition was the money intended to support? Who inserted the provision, who approved it and who was expected to benefit from an expenditure whose stated purpose had already ceased to exist?” Atiku queried.
He added, “the Tinubu administration has a peculiar proclivity for propaganda, and we are reliably informed that there are plans to twist the facts of the PFIPC scandal, absolve those within the government who ought to answer questions and manufacture a politically convenient story against the opposition.”
Atiku reiterated his earlier demand for an independent investigation, arguing that an administration whose senior officials have been mentioned in the controversy cannot credibly investigate itself behind closed doors.
“The probe ordered by President Tinubu and assigned to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is insufficient, self-serving and incapable of inspiring public confidence in the government’s claim of innocence.
“An impartial investigation into this scandal is now a direct test of President Tinubu’s integrity and commitment to accountability, particularly because the allegations reach into the heart of his administration.
“A compromised process in which the government interrogates suspects in secrecy, suppresses inconvenient facts and later emerges with a contrived narrative blaming the opposition would be a pathetic assault on truth and a further demolition of the credibility of the Tinubu administration.
“Finally, this is precisely why we demanded an independent investigation from the very beginning. If not a government consumed by confusion and emboldened by impunity, how does the executive order a sweeping fresh investigation into matters that are already before a court of competent jurisdiction? Such conduct is not only reckless; it raises legitimate concerns about an attempt to control the narrative and undermine the integrity of the judicial process.”
Atiku, while insisting that Nigerians deserve to know the whole truth about the PFIPC scandal, charged the National Assembly to immediately constitute an independent bipartisan panel to investigate every aspect of the PFIPC controversy.
