Three political parties failed to submit the names of their presidential and vice-presidential candidates before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) closed its candidate nomination portal for the 2027 general election.
A senior INEC official disclosed that the affected parties are the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Nyesom Wike, and the Labour Party (LP) faction led by Nenadi Usman.
According to the official, nearly all registered political parties successfully completed the nomination process before the portal closed at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, following an extension granted by the commission.
INEC had extended the deadline after appeals from political parties, maintaining that no further extension would be considered.
The commission is now expected to begin processing submitted nominations in line with the Electoral Act and its guidelines.
Among the parties that met the deadline are the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which retained President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima as its presidential ticket, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which nominated Atiku Abubakar and Rotimi Amaechi, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), which submitted the names of Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
However, INEC sources indicated that some political parties uploaded only the names of their presidential candidates without naming running mates.
The nomination exercise also exposed uncertainty in some states, particularly Benue, Kwara and Nasarawa, where disagreements reportedly persisted over the identities of National Assembly candidates eventually uploaded to the commission’s portal.
Meanwhile, concerns have continued to trail the candidature of the ADC following a Court of Appeal judgment restraining INEC from recognising state congresses conducted by the David Mark-led leadership of the party.
Despite the ruling, checks on the INEC portal showed that David Mark remains listed as the party’s National Chairman, while Rauf Aregbesola is still recognised as National Secretary, indicating that no changes have yet been effected by the electoral commission.
The ADC also called for the arrest and prosecution of Nafiu Bala Gombe over claims that he obtained the party’s INEC access code and uploaded candidates.
The party described the documents circulated by Gombe as forged and welcomed INEC’s clarification dismissing the claims as false.
Similarly, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) confirmed that it successfully uploaded the names of its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and vice-presidential candidate, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, after obtaining access to the commission’s nomination portal.
The party’s National Leader, Henry Seriake Dickson, said the development followed the filing of an appeal and an application for a stay of execution over a recent court ruling affecting the party.
In another development, the factional PDP led by Abdulrahman Mohammed Takushara also announced that it had successfully submitted its presidential, vice-presidential and National Assembly candidates to the INEC portal, despite reports that another PDP faction had failed to complete the process before the deadline.
Meanwhile, the fate of Accord Party presidential aspirant Gbenga Hashim remains uncertain as a Federal High Court adjourned his suit against the party and INEC until Wednesday.
Hashim is asking the court to declare him the party’s lawful presidential candidate for the 2027 election or, alternatively, order a fresh primary if the relief is not granted.
As of the time of filing the report, it remained unclear whether his name had been uploaded to the INEC portal because of the pending litigation.
