The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have commenced the uploading of the names and particulars of their governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections onto the nomination portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, said the exercise had commenced by the opposition party on Saturday, while a senior APC official said the ruling party had also started submitting the details of candidates cleared by its primary election appeal panel and National Working Committee (NWC).
Speaking on the exercise, Bature said the PDP had not had any technical problem since the process began.
“The Peoples Democratic Party started uploading information of its governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates to the INEC nomination portal on Saturday.
“The exercise has been going well, with no technical issues, and we are confident that the upload process will be completed well ahead of the deadline,” he said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had scheduled the submission of nomination forms for governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates to span from 9am on July 18 to 6pm on August 8, 2026.
Earlier, political parties submitted nomination lists for their presidential and National Assembly candidates from June 27 to July 11.
The exercise was based on the submission of the Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E as per Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
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An APC chieftain who spoke to The PUNCH on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media said the party was giving priority to serving governors who were seeking re-election.
“I can confirm that the party started the upload process yesterday, with those 16 governors seeking re-election given priority,” the official said.
The APC source added that only those candidates whose nominations survived petitions before the primary election appeal committee and got the approval of the NWC would be uploaded.
“There may be minor adjustments to the original list of candidates, as the primary election appeal committee had considered some petitions and made its recommendations to the National Working Committee,” the source said.
“So, only candidates that went through the appeal committee review and got clearance from NWC were uploaded to INEC portal.
“We are confident exercise will be completed before the deadline.”
Among the incumbent governors, the APC list is expected to include Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Uba Sani of Kaduna, Abba Yusuf of Kano, Dikko Radda of Katsina and Nasir Idris of Kebbi.
Others are Umaru Bago of Niger, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto, Agbu Kefas of Taraba and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara.
First-time flagbearers such as Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat; Senator Solomon Adeola in Ogun; Kingsley Chinda in Rivers; and Eric Opah in Abia are also expected to make the party’s governorship list.
The party source also mentioned the names of Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), Ahmed Wadada (Nasarawa) and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).
He said the APC had set up a committee to be headed by Jibrin Bancir, the Principal Private Secretary to the party’s national chairman to coordinate the collection and transmission of documents needed for the exercise.
“The committee receives the documents from the state chairmen, cross-checks the details, ensures that all the requirements are met and forwards same to the ICT department for uploading.
The arrangement is to make the process seamless, efficient and timely,” the source added.
INEC’s timetable says the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates will be published on August 8.
The details of governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates are slated for display on August 29.
Political parties have until August 22 to withdraw or substitute presidential and National Assembly candidates, while governorship and state Assembly candidates must be withdrawn or substituted by September 19.
The PDP, APC and other political parties are expected to field a total of 28 governorship candidates and 993 candidates for state Houses of Assembly nationwide.
Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states will not hold governorship elections because their elections are held outside the general election cycle.