Parties participating in next year’s general election are to begin the upload of the names and particulars of their governorship and state Assembly candidates from Saturday.

By its schedule of activities, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will by 9am on July 18 open its portal to authorized leaders of the parties to upload the names and relevant particulars of their flag bearers.

The portal will close by 6pm on August 8.

It was learnt yesterday that despite claiming successful completion of their primaries and ready to upload names and particulars, the parties have been keeping the list of the candidates secret.

In accordance with the time-table and schedule of activities for the 2027 general election, the commission will publish the names and personal particulars of all candidates contesting the national elections (President and National Assembly) on August 1.

The publication of the list is in line with the provisions of Section 29(3) of the electoral act which provides that the list be published within 21 days of submission by the parties in the constituencies where the candidate intends to contest the elections.

Subsection (2) on its part provides that “The list or information submitted by each candidate shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidate at the Federal High Court, High Court of a State, or Federal Capital Territory, indicating that he or she has fulfilled all the constitutional requirements for election into that office.

On the other hand, Sub-section (3) empowers the commission to publish the list for claims and objections by Nigerians, stating that “the Commission shall, within 21 days of the receipt of the personal particulars of the candidate, publish same in the constituency where the candidate intends to contest the election.” GeographicReference

Subsection (4) states that “Any person may apply to the Commission for a copy of nomination form, affidavit and any other document submitted by a candidate at an election and the Commission shall, upon payment of a prescribed fee, issue such person with a certified true copy of the document within 14 days.”

Although there is no specific date on the timetable dedicated to claims and objections, parties are expected to resolve any dispute arising from the nomination process during the period of the display while they have until August 22 to substitute the candidates they may have submitted to the commission.

Such replacement is expected to be done in accordance with the provisions of section 31 of the Electoral Act, which provides that “a candidate may withdraw his candidature by notice in writing signed by him together with a sworn affidavit delivered personally by the candidate to the political party that nominated him for the election and the political party shall convey such withdrawal and the sworn affidavit to the Commission not later than 90 days to the election.”

The INEC Candidate Nomination Portal for the national elections (President and National Assembly) which was initially scheduled to shut down on July 11 was extended by the commission following an appeal by the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella body of all registered political parties in the country and automatically shut down at midnight of Tuesday, July 14.

A highly-placed source within the Commission told The Nation that following the conclusion of the nomination process for the national elections, the Commission is currently working on the submission and will publish the data received on the appointed date, while also shifting focus to the state elections.

National Chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yabagi Sani told The Nation that the party successfully uploaded its candidates to the INEC portal without any hitch.

Although he promised to make the list available to our reporter, he was yet to do as at the time of this report.

Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Judith Aguenu, said the party was still compiling and uploading the list of its candidates.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed reports that it did not upload the names and particulars of its candidates to the INEC Candidate Nomination Portal.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said in a statement that the party uploaded the names and personal particulars to the INEC portal and received an acknowledgement from the commission.

Although this reporter could not independently verify the claims, the acknowledgement copy believed to have emanated from the commission’s portal indicate time and date of submission as 11.50am on Friday, July 10 with the remark which says “please note this is a temporary acknowledgement.”

Also yesterday, the Labour Party (LP) said it successfully uploaded the names of its presidential, vice-presidential and National Assembly candidates ahead of the INEC deadline.

The party made the clarification while dismissing reports alleging that it failed to submit the names of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates before the close of the INEC nomination portal on July 14, 2026.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ken Asogwa, the party described the reports as false and misleading, insisting that all its duly nominated candidates were uploaded within the timeframe stipulated by the electoral umpire.

According to the statement, the names of the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates were uploaded on July 10, four days before the deadline, while the submission of National Assembly candidates was also completed before the portal closed.

“The Labour Party wishes to categorically state that it successfully completed the upload of the names of all its duly nominated candidates for the Presidential and National Assembly elections ahead of the closure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination portal on 14th July, 2026,” the statement read.

The party maintained that the nomination process was completed seamlessly and in full compliance with INEC’s guidelines. (The Nation)