The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have started uploading the names of their governorship and state House of Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination portal ahead of the 2027 general elections.
INEC opened the portal for governorship and state assembly nominations on July 18. The submission window will close on August 8.
PDP confirms upload process
PDP National Organising Secretary Umar Bature confirmed that the party began uploading candidates’ details on Saturday.
He said the exercise has progressed smoothly and remains on schedule.
Bature said:
“The Peoples Democratic Party commenced the upload of its governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates’ details to INEC’s nomination portal on Saturday.”
He added:
“The exercise has been progressing smoothly without any technical issues, and we are confident that the upload process will be completed well ahead of the deadline.”
APC begins submission with returning governors
A senior APC official also confirmed that the ruling party has started uploading its candidates.
However, the source said the party first prioritised its 16 incumbent governors seeking re-election.
The official explained that the APC would upload only candidates cleared by the party’s primary election appeal committee and approved by the National Working Committee (NWC).
The source said:
“I can confirm that the party commenced the upload process yesterday (Saturday), with priority given to the 16 governors seeking re-election.”
APC sets up committee for uploads
The APC constituted a committee to coordinate the submission process.
Jibrin Bancir, the Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, heads the committee.
According to the source, the committee receives nomination documents from state chairmen, verifies the information and forwards approved documents to the party’s ICT department for upload.
The source added:
“The arrangement is aimed at making the process seamless, efficient and timely.”
Appeal decisions may affect final list
The APC official disclosed that some changes could still occur before the final submission.
According to the source, the party reviewed petitions arising from the governorship primaries before approving candidates for upload.
The official said:
“There could be slight changes to the initial list of candidates, as the primary election appeal committee had reviewed some petitions and submitted its recommendations to the National Working Committee.”
He added:
“So, only candidates who passed the appeal committee’s review and received the approval of the NWC were uploaded to the INEC portal.”
INEC sets timetable for governorship nominations
Earlier, political parties submitted the names of their presidential and National Assembly candidates between June 27 and July 11, 2026.
The process included the submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E in line with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
INEC fixed July 18 to August 8 for governorship and state House of Assembly nominations.
The commission will publish the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates on August 8. It will display the details of governorship and state assembly candidates on August 29.
Political parties have until August 22 to withdraw or substitute presidential and National Assembly candidates. Meanwhile, they have until September 19 to make changes to governorship and state House of Assembly candidates.
Parties to submit over 1,000 candidates
The PDP, APC and other political parties are expected to upload 28 governorship candidates and 993 state House of Assembly candidates nationwide.
However, governorship elections will not hold in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun because they operate off-cycle election calendars.
Read also: INEC considers mock presidential poll ahead of 2027 elections
