How Nigerian Women Enter Elected Office

The party constitution

Every registered political party in Nigeria has a constitution filed with INEC. This document sets out how the party chooses the person who will stand on its ticket for each office — the party primary. The document also names the party office that runs the primary, the forms the party requires, and the fee the party charges to collect those forms. A woman reads the party constitution before she pays anything. The document tells her which office to write to, when nominations open, and what the party treats as a disqualification.

The party primary

The primary produces one candidate per party per office. Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 sets the rules for the primary. A political party nominates its candidate either by direct primary (every registered member of the party in the constituency votes) or by indirect primary (delegates vote). The party chooses which method it will use, and the party constitution records that choice. The result of the primary is written into a nomination form, signed by the party's national chairman and secretary, and delivered to INEC within the window the Act sets.

The INEC nomination form

INEC publishes the nomination form it accepts for each election. The form asks the candidate to declare name, age, education, party membership, tax status, and whether any court has convicted her of a crime involving dishonesty. The form carries a sworn affidavit. A false entry on the form removes the candidate from the ballot, whether or not the primary has already taken place. The candidate signs the form in front of a commissioner for oaths, then the party submits the form to the INEC state office for the constituency.

The ballot paper

INEC prints the ballot paper after the nomination window closes. The paper lists, for each office, one candidate per party. The woman's name appears next to her party's logo. From that point the woman is on the ballot, and the general election decides whether she takes the seat. INEC publishes the final list of candidates for each office on its website and in a national newspaper before the election.

The general election

The general election takes place on the date INEC sets. The candidate who receives the highest number of valid votes cast for the office takes the seat. For a National Assembly or State House of Assembly seat, the candidate with the highest number of votes wins outright. For the presidency, the candidate with the highest number of votes and at least one-quarter of votes in two-thirds of the states takes the seat.

The record a woman keeps

A woman who wants to stand for election keeps four documents in one folder. The first is her party membership card. The second is her party primary result form, signed by the party. The third is her INEC nomination form and its sworn affidavit. The fourth is the INEC receipt showing the party submitted her form inside the nomination window. If any of the four is missing, her name may still reach the ballot through a court order, but the process is longer and the outcome uncertain.

What WATAG does with this

WATAG trains women to read the party constitution, the Electoral Act, and the INEC nomination form before they pay a nomination fee. WATAG also publishes records of women who appear on the final INEC candidate list for each state and each chamber. The training and the published records are two separate activities. Neither of them produces a candidate or runs a campaign.