Sani, Hamzat, Chinda, Others To Be Uploaded As PDP, APC Race To Beat INEC’s Deadline

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have begun uploading the names and particulars of their governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s nomination portal.

The PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, confirmed that the opposition party commenced the exercise 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 encountered any technical problems since the process began.

“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,” he said.

INEC had fixed the submission of nomination forms for governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates to run from 9am on July 18 to 6pm on August 8, 2026.

Political parties had earlier submitted the nomination lists of their presidential and National Assembly candidates between June 27 and July 11.

The exercise included the submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E in line with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.

A senior APC official, who spoke to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to address the media, said the party was giving priority to incumbent governors seeking re-election.

“I can confirm that the party commenced the upload process yesterday, with priority given to the 16 governors seeking re-election,” the official said.

The APC source added that only candidates whose nominations survived petitions before the primary election appeal committee and received the approval of the NWC would be uploaded.

The source 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.

“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.”

Among the incumbent governors expected on the APC list are 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 include Umaru Bago of Niger, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto, Agbu Kefas of Taraba and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara.

The party’s governorship list is also expected to feature first-time flagbearers, including Lagos State Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat; Senator Solomon Adeola in Ogun; Kingsley Chinda in Rivers; and Eric Opah in Abia.

Other names mentioned by the party source include Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi, Mustapha Gubio of Borno, Jamilu Gwamna of Gombe, Ahmed Wadada of Nasarawa and Baba Malam Wali of Yobe.

The official disclosed that the APC had constituted a committee 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 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,” the source added.

According to INEC’s timetable, the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates will be published on August 8.

The particulars of governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates are scheduled to be displayed on August 29.

Political parties have until August 22 to withdraw or substitute presidential and National Assembly candidates, while the deadline for the withdrawal or substitution of governorship and state Assembly candidates is September 19.

The PDP, APC and other political parties are expected to submit a total of 28 governorship candidates and 993 state Houses of Assembly candidates nationwide.

Governorship elections will not hold in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states because their elections are conducted outside the general election cycle.