The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has opened the portal for the upload of names of Governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates by political parties.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, as well as INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, confirmed the commencement of the exercise in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune.
In its 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 to hold between Saturday, July 18 and Saturday, August 8, 2026.
INEC also scheduled the publication of personal particulars of governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates (EC9) for Saturday, August 29, 2026.
When contacted to confirm whether the exercise had commenced as scheduled and if political parties had received access codes to execute the task, the national commissioner said, “So far eight parties have collected the token but none has started submission.”
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune on the exercise, the National Publicity Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi said the party was ready for the next phase, which began on Saturday.
“It doesn’t require any preparation. Those ones are more straightforward. It’s just 28 states,” he explained. “And of course, the House of Assembly, that’s where the challenge is. Because they are a lot more numerous in number. But we will do it the same way we have done the National Assembly and the President. So, we don’t envisage any problem,” he added.
Last week, INEC said it will recognise only the candidates submitted by the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the ADC, confirming that the faction has already nominated candidates for 471 elective positions ahead of the 2027 general election.
INEC national commissioner Haruna said that the commission granted the Mark-led faction access to its nomination portal, following the Supreme Court judgment affirming its leadership, adding that the rival faction had no legal basis to submit candidates.
He said, “Yes, we gave the Mark-led faction the code based on the recent Supreme Court judgment that affirmed his leadership of the party and the faction has since submitted most of its candidates for a total of 471 – presidential (2), senatorial (109) and House of Representatives (360) constituencies.
“The court, however, did not say we should accept any submissions by the rival faction which, in any case, had lost its appeal for recognition.”
According to the revised timetable, Presidential and National Assembly elections are now fixed for Saturday, 16th January 2027, while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold on Saturday, 6th February 2027
© Tribune
