The Nigeria Democratic Congress has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct an immediate electronic audit of its nomination portal after the commission published 10 persons as the party’s candidates for the 2027 Anambra State House of Assembly elections.
The NDC said the affected individuals did not emerge from its nomination or appeal processes and that the party neither nominated them nor submitted their completed EC9E forms to INEC.
The party’s Director of New Media and Strategic Communications, Theophilus Agada, made the demand in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday.
Agada said the names published by INEC were inconsistent with the candidates approved by the party.
He said, “The 10 names published by INEC neither emerged from the party’s nomination process nor its appeal process.
“The NDC uploaded only candidates who emerged from our appeal process, but the commission rejected the names approved by the party and subsequently published persons unknown to us.”
The candidates listed by INEC and disowned by the party are Umennaajiego Ezenwa for Onitsha South I, Akpotue Chibuike for Onitsha South II, Nwankwo Chiemerie for Orumba North, Maduagwu Eric K. for Anaocha I, Ngoebisi Obinna for Idemili North and Isintume Charles for Njikoka I.
Others are Nwachukwu Nonso for Nnewi South I, Okeke Akunne for Nnewi South II, Nnonyelu Samson E. for Ayamelum and Azotani Francis for Dunukofia.
The NDC argued that political parties have the statutory responsibility of nominating candidates and forwarding their particulars to INEC for processing and publication.
According to the party, it did not submit nomination documents for the 10 individuals whose names appeared on the commission’s list.
“It is the party’s legal responsibility to submit the names and credentials of its nominated candidates,” the statement said.
“The NDC did not collect or forward completed EC9E forms for the 10 persons whose names later appeared on INEC’s published list.”
Agada questioned the source of the information and credentials used by INEC to publish the affected persons as NDC candidates.
He asked, “How did the commission obtain their credentials when it is the party’s legal duty to submit the names of its approved candidates?”
The latest dispute follows an earlier threat by the NDC to take legal action against INEC over what it described as the substitution of its candidates with “strange names” in the 2027 State House of Assembly elections.
The party’s National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, had raised the alarm over the publication of names which he said were neither nominated nor submitted by the NDC.
Cleopas said the issue was particularly significant because Anambra is the home state of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Following the allegations, INEC began reviewing its records to establish how the disputed names appeared on the list attributed to the NDC.
The electoral commission, however, rejected the allegation that it had replaced candidates nominated by the party.
INEC’s Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the Chairman, Adedayo Oketola, said the commission lacked the legal authority to nominate candidates for political parties or replace properly nominated candidates with individuals of its choosing.
The controversy has now placed the nomination process for the affected Anambra constituencies under fresh scrutiny as political parties prepare for the 2027 general elections.
