According to Mr Yakubu, the 2023 pre-election lawsuit is 61 less than the 852 recorded in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.
Ahead of the general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was joined in 791 intra-party lawsuits in different courts of law as of 6 January.
Speaking at the Chatham House on Tuesday, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, a professor, said the lawsuits involved the nomination and election of candidates by political parties.
INEC published the final list of candidates on 20 September 2022 for presidential and National Assembly elections and 4 October, for governorship and state assembly elections.
The elections are coming up in less than 40 days with the presidential and National Assembly polls holding first on 25 February and the governorship and state assembly elections on 11 March.
Except with a court order, no party or candidate can request the alteration of the list, INEC's National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, once told PREMIUM TIMES.
According to Mr Yakubu, the 2023 pre-election lawsuit is 61 less than the 852 recorded in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.
"In the 2019 general election, the Commission was involved in 1,689 cases, made up of 852 pre-election, 807 post-election and 30 electoral offences cases," he said.
He, however, clarified that all of the lawsuits are purely from elections conducted by political parties.
"These are not cases involving elections conducted by the Commission or litigations initiated by it, but purely intra-party matters involving candidates and their political parties mainly due to the absence of internal democracy within parties," he said.
"In fact, the Commission is only a nominal party in these cases but nevertheless has to be represented by lawyers in all court proceedings."
Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe
