Political parties have intensified efforts to upload the names, personal particulars, and other required information relating to their nominated presidential and federal legislative candidates ahead of the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In its revised timetable, the commission had said parties must submit nominations for Presidential and National Assembly candidates from 9 am Saturday, June 27, to 6 pm Saturday, July 11 (tomorrow).

Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026 provides for not later than 120 days before the election for the submission of forms EC9 (personal particulars of candidates) and EC9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E (names/list of nominated presidential and National Assembly candidates) online.

The commission fixed August 1 for the publication of personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates (EC9) in line with Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act, which provides for the action within 21 days of receipt.

However, in the revised timetable, the commission fixed the online upload of the names, personal particulars, and other required information relating to the nominated governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates between 9 am, Saturday, July 18 and 6 pm, Saturday, August 8.

INEC equally scheduled the publication of personal particulars of governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates (EC9) for Saturday, August 29.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that candidates who emerged at the end of primaries besieged the national headquarters of their various parties this week to ensure that their particulars were uploaded because of the fear of replacements.

Legislative candidates in the African Democratic Congress (ADC) have been visiting the party’s National Secretariat since Monday.

A top source in the party said some of the candidates travelled to Abuja to personally submit their particulars because they could not trust party officials in their various states.

“You can see National Assembly candidates coming to party secretariat to submit their particulars. They cannot trust some of the state party officials to do it on their behalf because of fear of replacements,” said one of the sources.

ADC will meet deadline —Bolaji Abdullahi

When contacted Thursday on the preparation of the party ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for the submission of presidential and National Assembly candidates, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said: “We don’t have any issue. We will meet the deadline.”

On the preparation for the online upload of the nominated governorship and state assembly candidates, the ADC spokesman said, “There is no preparation now. When INEC hands over the codes, we will do the same thing like the National Assembly and presidential candidates.”

In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said the commission will compare the results submitted by all registered political parties on its portal with the reports of its monitors across the country.

The INEC commissioner, who said the commission had already uploaded the names of candidates who emerged winners at the end of primaries conducted by all parties, added they would not be able to upload names that did not tally with the results already uploaded by the commission on its portal.

He, however, said that parties have the window of substitution as provided in the Electoral Act.

He said the parties must first make their submissions based on the final outcomes of their appeal processes, while the commission ensured that they adhered strictly to the provisions of party constitutions.

He confirmed that all the 21 registered parties received access codes to enable their designated national officers to upload the names, personal particulars, and other required information relating to nominated presidential and National Assembly candidates.

Officially, INEC began to issue access codes to parties for the Candidate Nomination Portal for the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general elections on June 26, after a two-day training programme for their officials on the use of the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP).

The candidate nomination commenced the following day on June 27.

On June 6, the Chairman of INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan, stated that all submissions by parties must be completed within the stipulated deadlines.

“The portal is fully automated and will close automatically at the expiration of the prescribed period,” the chairman warned.

Although party primaries for the election of candidates were concluded on May 30, there was tension following the failure of some parties to issue certificates of return to elected candidates.

The uncertainty was worsened by party leaders’ statements that results announced at collation centres may not stand, since party leadership retains final authority.

APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, said only parties would announce final results.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio also told colleagues who lost primaries “it was not the end of the matter”.

Later, Akpabio met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while Speaker Abbas Tajudeen and other House leaders also met the president. Both meetings were seen as moves to accommodate aspirants who lost out.

According to the revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 General Election, Presidential and National Assembly elections are now fixed for Saturday, January 16, 2027, while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, February 6, 2027.

LP, PDP in race to meet INEC deadline

With less than 48 hours to deadline, the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party have geared up to submit the names of successful candidates for the 2027 polls, particularly for the presidential contest and the National Assembly to INEC.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune, indicated that the LP and the PDP have made sufficient progress to meet the deadline.

As of Wednesday, the LP had uploaded “90 percent” of the candidates for the National Assembly offices and the lone presidential position, while the PDP confirmed to have achieved “full compliance”.

Investigations showed that the LP certified about 1,211 candidates to contest offices in the 2027 elections, covering 99 senatorial candidates (of 109 seats), 307 House of Representatives candidates (of 360 seats), and 776 State House of Assembly candidates (of 993 seats).

The PDP is also contesting all the available positions across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in addition to the presidency.

Both the LP and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP confirmed on Thursday that the exercise has been smooth sailing so far and devoid of controversy and allegations of substitution of the names of winners by party officials.

Speaking on the progress, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Mr Ken Asogwa, said, “The deadline is 11th. Today is the 9th.

“And we have been able to do more than 90% of the uploads.

“It’s going on well. We are not having any challenges with meeting the deadline. We will meet it.”

The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Honourable Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, also confirmed that the party had done the uploads without hiccups.

“I can confirm to you that everything has been smooth so far. As of three days ago, we were doing 80% and on 8th, yesterday, we concluded 100% in compliance with uploading the names for the President and the National Assembly candidates.

“As for meeting the deadline, surely we will meet it,” he said.

When confronted with the allegation that some political parties did a last-minute replacement of names of winners with other preferred persons, thereby leading to disputes, Mohammed replied that the PDP was not involved with such manipulations.

He spoke more, “No hitches, Nigerians should not be worried, particularly our candidates, and we are very much ready to slog it out in 2027.

“This is a new PDP. This is a brand-new leadership of the PDP. This is not what you used to know about the PDP. And this is not APC. What is happening in APC cannot happen in PDP. So we do not have such cases. We don’t substitute the names of candidates who won primaries.”

Mohammed also said as the first phase of the upload rounded off, the party had already started uploading the nominations for the state Houses of Assembly and the governorship contest.

“As for the Houses of Assembly, we have started and I can tell you that before the close of the date, we will upload and record 100% success,” he added.

Ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for uploading nominated candidates to the portal of INEC, political parties have heightened activities to meet up the timeline given by the Electoral Umpire.

Investigations by Nigerian Tribune revealed that top national officers of the ruling APC who are directly connected with the process of compilation have moved away from Blantyre Street, where the party headquarters is located.

The retreat from the party national secretariat by the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, and his colleagues, according to investigations, is to stave off pressures from aggrieved aspirants, anxious to meet the final nomination list, particularly for the state assemblies seats.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Barrister Felix Morka could not be reached for comments.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune in a telephone interview, Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim merely said the process of compilation of candidates was ongoing.

Asked for details, Ibrahim said only the ICT department of the party is fully involved in the process.

He said: “I don’t have the update on who and who are on the list. All I can tell you is that the process is ongoing. Everything is being handled by our ICT unit.”

NDC confident of meeting INEC deadline for submission despite court dispute

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed confidence that it will complete the submission of its candidates’ names for the 2027 general elections before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s July 11 deadline.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, gave the assurance while responding to questions on the ongoing upload of candidates for the State Houses of Assembly and National Assembly elections to the INEC nomination portal. According to him, the exercise has progressed without any setbacks.

“The process is ongoing and moving smoothly without hitches. So far, there are no issues. The NDC hopes to conclude the process on or before Saturday in order to meet up with INEC’s July 11 deadline,” he said.

The update comes amid the legal battle surrounding the party’s status following a recent judgment of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, which ordered the deregistration of the NDC.

The court ruling had initially raised concerns over the party’s participation in the 2027 electoral process, including its ability to submit the names of nominated candidates to INEC within the stipulated timeframe.

However, the NDC challenged the judgment by filing a notice of appeal and an application for a stay of execution, arguing that the decision should not take effect pending the determination of its appeal.

The party also served the court processes on INEC and maintained that, under established legal principles, the status quo should be preserved while the appellate court considers the matter.

Following the legal steps taken by the party, INEC subsequently granted the NDC access to its candidate nomination portal, enabling it to continue uploading the names of candidates who emerged from its primaries.

Party officials had earlier confirmed that the names of its presidential candidate, Peter Obi and the vice presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and other candidates were being uploaded to the commission’s portal in compliance with the electoral timetable.

The NDC has consistently insisted that it remains a legally recognised political party pending the outcome of its appeal and has urged members and supporters to remain calm despite the ongoing court proceedings.

With the July 11 deadline for submission of candidates fast approaching, the party says it is focused on completing the nomination process while pursuing its appeal against the Lokoja court judgment. (Nigerian Tribune)

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