The Peoples Democratic Party and the ruling All Progressives Congress have begun submitting the names of their governorship and state House of Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s nomination portal for the 2027 general elections.
The Punch reported that the development follows the conclusion of the submission of presidential and National Assembly candidates by political parties, in line with the electoral timetable released by INEC.
The nomination process for presidential and National Assembly candidates ran from June 27 to July 11, 2026, with parties also required to submit Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E in compliance with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
INEC scheduled the submission of governorship and state House of Assembly candidates between 9:00 a.m. on July 18 and 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 2026.
Under the timetable, the commission will publish the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates on August 8, while those of governorship and state House of Assembly candidates will be displayed on August 29.
The electoral body also fixed August 22 as the deadline for the withdrawal or substitution of presidential and National Assembly candidates, while governorship and state House of Assembly candidates have until September 19 for withdrawal or substitution.
Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH, the PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, confirmed that the opposition party began uploading the details of its governorship and state Assembly candidates on Saturday.
He noted that the exercise was progressing without any hitch and would be completed before the August 8 deadline.
He stated, “The Peoples Democratic Party commenced the upload of its governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates’ details to INEC’s nomination portal on Saturday.
“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.”
A senior APC official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, also confirmed that the ruling party had started uploading its candidates to the INEC portal.
According to the source, the party is giving priority to its 16 incumbent governors seeking re-election while ensuring that only candidates cleared by the primary election appeal committee and approved by the National Working Committee are uploaded.
The governors expected to appear on the APC list include Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Abba Yusuf (Kano), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Nasir Idris (Kebbi), Umaru Bago (Niger), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Agbu Kefas (Taraba) and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara).
The source added that the party’s governorship list would also feature 12 new standard-bearers, among them Obafemi Hamzat (Lagos), Solomon Adeola (Ogun), Kingsley Chinda (Rivers), Eric Opah (Abia), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), Ahmed Wadada (Nasarawa) and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).
He stated, “I can confirm that the party commenced the upload process yesterday (Saturday), with priority given to the 16 governors seeking re-election.
“The party has also established a committee headed by Jibrin Bancir, the Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, to coordinate the smooth transmission of documents and materials required for upload to the INEC portal.
“The committee is responsible for receiving documents from state chairmen, verifying the details, ensuring all requirements are met, and forwarding them to the ICT department for upload.
“The arrangement is aimed at making the process seamless, efficient and timely.
“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.
“So, only candidates who passed the appeal committee’s review and received the approval of the NWC were uploaded to the INEC portal.
“We are confident that the exercise will be completed before the deadline.”
Political parties, including the PDP and APC, are expected to submit a combined total of 28 governorship candidates and 993 state House of Assembly candidates across the country.
Governorship elections will not be conducted in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states because they operate off-cycle governorship election schedules.
The ongoing upload follows the earlier submission of presidential and National Assembly candidates by participating political parties through INEC’s nomination portal.
