THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and political parties, yesterday, disagreed over issuance of access codes to parties to upload their candidates’ particulars on the commission’s portal.

Going by INEC’s 2027 general elections timeliness, the access codes were to be released to the parties last Friday.

However, while the parties, with the exception of BOOT party, said they had not received the codes, the electoral umpire said it had done so.

Pointedly, the electoral body said it conducted a training for representatives of available parties on the use of the codes on Thursday and Friday, insisting that the deadline for upload of candidates remained July 11.

This is coming as rival factions of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and African Democratic Congress, ADC, angle to get the electoral commission’s nod to upload candidates on its portal.

Presidential, NASS candidates’ nomination portal shuts down July 11 — INEC

The electoral umpire said it had begun training for representatives of political parties to assist them navigate its online nomination portal for the submission of candidates details ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The parties have until July 11, 2026, to upload nominations for presidential and National Assembly seats.

A top INEC source, speaking on the state of compliance by political parties, urged patience, noting it was premature to assess how parties were faring with the exercise. Politics

“We are interfacing with them. They have until July 11 to finish their uploads. It’s too early to talk about compliance or otherwise.

“The ICT personnel of the parties know the processes of uploading the required details. Last Thursday and Friday, we had a training for representatives of political parties.

“If they have challenges, our personnel are on standby to assist. It’s nothing difficult. Even you in the media, also use our dedicated portal to do same,”, he said.

When contacted for reaction, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, dismissed claims that parties were yet to be given codes.

“Any party claiming that they do not have the access codes, ask them if they were at the training on Thursday and Friday. Were they expecting to have been given codes without the training?

"The training continues and if by Monday(today) they have not got the codes, then they can now make such claims,” she said.

According to the commission’s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election, the window for submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E online opened at 9.00am on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and closes at 6.00 p. on July 11, 2026 for Presidential and National Assembly candidates.

For governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates, the portal opens at 9.00am on July 18, 2026 and closes at 6.00pm. on August 8, 2026.

The EC9 form captures the personal particulars of candidates, while Forms EC9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E are for the names and lists of nominated candidates.

Access codes for the submission of the nomination forms became available for collection from Friday, June 26, 2026, at the commission’s headquarters.

The exercise is anchored on Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which prescribes that candidate nominations must be submitted not later than 120 days before the election.

We’re yet to get access codes — Parties

However, a host of political parties said INEC has not provided access codes for them to upload the names of their respective candidates for the 2027 election. Bolaji Abdullahi of the ADC, and Mohammed Ishaq of Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, said yesterday the codes were not available yet and that INEC had assured parties that they would receive them when they were ready. Politics

The two factional spokesmen of the PDP, Ini Ememobong and Jungudo Haruna, were yet to respond to inquiries concerning the issue at press time yesterday.

The leadership of All Progressives Grand Aliance, APGA, also declined to speak on the matter when contacted for comments.

In the meantime, some party stakeholders said INEC access codes were not a major concern, except for the issuance of certificates of return, as candidates’ names typically do not appear on the ballot, only party logos.

They cited some lawmakers from Plateau State in the Senate as an example, stating that they came to power through court-backed processes after the candidates, whose names were uploaded on INEC portal and who initially won the elections, were disqualified due to illegal congresses.

INEC has started giving codes for Osun election — NNPP

The National Secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Dipo Olayoku, said the electoral commission had started giving out access code to parties for the Osun State off-season governorship election.

Olayoku was, however, not too sure if the electoral umpire had commenced the process for the 2027 Presidential and general elections, just as he commended the commission for its efforts so far.

Olayoku said: “INEC has started giving out access codes for the uploading of polling agents for Osun State off-season governorship election.

“As for the 2027 general elections, they promised to start issuing the access codes (Saturday). I have not reached out to my office to know if they have collected it. But I think generally, we should commend INEC.

“The work load has been very heavy and choking, especially going by the 2026 Electoral Act which was not done in good faith by National Assembly. Apart from that, INEC has just conducted an off-season governorship election in Ekiti State as well as bye-elections in six states. And political parties too are not helping matters with litigations arising from internal wrangling. This constitutes a huge distraction to INEC.”

INEC yet to give us code — NDC

The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, said as a party, it has approached INEC for the access code to enable it upload its candidates on the portal but noted that the commission had not responded.

Speaking with Vanguard, yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the NDC, Osa Director, said: “We have approached INEC but they are yet to respond to our request. Hopefully, we shall be in court tomorrow (today) to file for a stay of execution of the Lokoja FHC ruling.”

A Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, on Friday gave a judgment ordering the INEC not to recognise the NDC as a political party, pending when all legal issues surrounding it were resolved.

The court had earlier set aside its December 2025 judgment that compelled INEC to register the NDC, following an application filed by an association known as the Peace Movement Party, PMP, which claimed ownership of the logo used by the NDC in securing its registration.

The NDC same day rejected the ruling, saying that it would head to the Court of Appeal.

Expressing confidence in the appellate court, the NDC National Chairman, Senator Cleopas Zuwoghe, had on Friday said: “We still have faith in the Nigerian judiciary. The Federal High Court is not the final court in the land.

"We will pursue this matter through the appellate process and are confident that justice will prevail.”

He assured supporters that the party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, his running mate, and all NDC candidates would remain on the ballot for the 2027 elections.

According to the national chairman, the rapid growth of the NDC has unsettled the ruling establishment.

“Within four months of registration, the NDC has emerged as a major opposition force. That naturally attracts political attention,” Zuwoghe noted. Politics

He maintained that the party’s legal position remained strong and disclosed that he had been at INEC on Thursday and returned after the press briefing on Friday to obtain the party’s candidate-upload code.

This court ruling has not stopped our work. Immediately after this briefing, I am proceeding to INEC to continue the process of uploading our candidates.”

LP awaiting INEC’s code

The Labour Party, LP, like other political parties, is still waiting to receive access codes to upload its list of candidates for the 2027 elections.

The party’s spokesperson, Ken Asogwa, was unavailable for comments, but a high-ranking party official said the party was aware that the commission was yet to release the codes to other political parties as of Saturday.

The source said: “We were told the codes may be ready by Monday. As I speak to you, no political party has been issued the code you are talking about.

“Though INEC has released the necessary nomination forms, which our party issued to candidates to fill and return, we will upload the forms and other documents as soon as INEC makes the code available.”

We received but yet to use code — BOOT party

However, one of the parties, Because Of Our Tomorrow, BOOT, said it had been given the access code.

National Chairman of the party, Sunny Adenuga, told Vanguard: “INEC has informed us that the code is ready. We will collect it early next week.” (Vanguard)

Update news