2027 Election Frenzy: INEC Portal Unlocks Candidate Uploads for Guber and State Assembly
INEC has opened its portal for political parties to upload Governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates, with a deadline of August 8, 2026. While parties like ADC anticipate managing the large number of State Assembly candidates, SDP has commenced submissions smoothly, commending INEC's transparent process. The electoral body also confirmed the recognized faction for ADC's candidate submissions following a Supreme Court judgment.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially opened its online portal for political parties to upload the names and particulars of their Governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates. This crucial exercise was confirmed by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, and INEC's Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune.
According to INEC's revised timetable, the online upload of names, personal particulars, and other required information for nominated governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates is scheduled to take place between Saturday, July 18, and Saturday, August 8, 2026. Following this, the publication of personal particulars of these candidates (EC9) is slated for Saturday, August 29, 2026. As of the initial confirmation, eight political parties had collected the necessary access tokens, though none had yet commenced submission.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) expressed its readiness for this next phase of candidate submission. Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, noted that while governorship candidate submissions for the 28 states are straightforward, the main challenge lies with the State Houses of Assembly candidates due to their significantly larger number. Despite this, the party anticipates no major problems, intending to manage the process similarly to how it handled National Assembly and Presidential candidates.
INEC had previously affirmed its recognition of only the candidates submitted by the Senator David Mark-led leadership of the ADC. This decision followed a Supreme Court judgment that upheld Mark's leadership of the party. The Mark-led faction had already nominated candidates for a total of 471 elective positions ahead of the 2027 general election, including two presidential candidates, 109 senatorial candidates, and 360 House of Representatives candidates. INEC confirmed granting this faction access to its nomination portal, while the rival faction lacked any legal basis for candidate submission.
The revised timetable also specifies the dates for the broader 2027 general elections: Presidential and National Assembly elections are fixed for Saturday, January 16, 2027, and Governorship and State Assembly elections will follow on Saturday, February 6, 2027.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) announced that it has commenced the upload of its governorship and State House of Assembly candidates to the INEC portal. This exercise began on Saturday, following the successful submission of its presidential and National Assembly candidates. Araba Rufus Ayenigba, the SDP National Publicity Secretary, stated on Sunday that the party was making steady progress without encountering any challenges. He highlighted that the timeframe provided by INEC was instrumental in allowing the party to recover from initial delays experienced during the nomination process.
Ayenigba further commented that the governorship and State Assembly candidates' upload was in