The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released the final list of candidates contesting the Senate and House of Representatives seats in the 2027 general elections.
The list contains a total of 4,408 candidates, comprising 1,195 candidates for the Senate and 3,213 candidates for the House of Representatives.
The release of the list marks another major step in preparations for the 2027 general elections, with the presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for January 16, 2027, while the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections are slated for February 6, 2027.
According to an analysis of the documents published by INEC, male candidates overwhelmingly dominate the National Assembly contests, with 3,965 men representing 89.9 per cent of the total candidates.
Female candidates account for 443, representing about 10.1 per cent.
For the Senate, 1,080 of the 1,195 candidates are male, while 115 are female.
Similarly, the House of Representatives list contains 2,885 male candidates and 328 female candidates.
The Allied Peoples Movement (APM) recorded the highest number of female candidates across both chambers, with 11 women contesting Senate seats and 42 contesting House of Representatives seats.
The publication of the National Assembly list follows INEC’s release of the final list of presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the 2027 election.
The presidential list contains 18 candidates and their running mates across the participating political parties.
Among the presidential candidates are President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Oyo State Governor Oluseyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Sandy Ojang Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
Other candidates include Rufai Adekunle Omo-Aje of the Action Alliance (AA), Abbas-Bin Aliyu of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Yusuf Kabiru of the Action Peoples Party (APP), Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Sunday Adenuga of the Boot Party (BP), Adebisi Olusoji of the Democratic Labour Alliance (DLA), Sunday Okereke of the Labour Party (LP), Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peter Agada of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), and Nwanyanwu Daberechukwu of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
DAILY GAZETTE reports that the presidential list also features two female candidates: Ada Elizabeth Frederick Okwori of the National Democratic Party (NDP) and Nkem Esther Okereke of the National Rescue Movement (NRM).
