2027 Poll: Only Recognised Party Leadership Gets Candidate Nomination Portal Access, Says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified that access codes for uploading candidates to its nomination portal are issued only to political parties whose national leadership is recognised by law.

A senior official of the Commission, who spoke with LEADERSHIP on Monday, dismissed claims that a faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by Mr. Nafiu Bala, had uploaded a list of candidates to the Commission’s portal.

The official said INEC deals only with party executives whose names are officially recognised and reflected in its records.

“I am just hearing that from you. But if you check the INEC official portal, you will see the names of the party officials legally recognised by law, and we are dealing with them based on our established criteria,” the official said.

He added that the Commission would publish the names of political parties that successfully submitted candidates, along with their nominees, after the nomination exercise, which is expected to end on July 14.

The claim that the Nafiu Bala-led faction had uploaded candidates to the INEC nomination portal surfaced on social media over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has described as false reports alleging that the group led by Mr. Nafiu Bala Gombe uploaded the name of a presidential candidate and other nominees to the INEC nomination portal.

In a statement issued by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the reports were “a blatant lie” and could easily be verified.

According to Abdullahi, INEC does not issue nomination portal access or nomination codes to any leadership it does not recognise.

He further argued that the Commission could not issue two separate nomination codes to the same political party.

“Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party. That is plainly not how the law or the Commission’s processes work,” he stated.

The party challenged those making the claim to provide evidence that the alleged upload was carried out by individuals not recognised by law or by INEC.

The ADC also called on the electoral commission to investigate what it described as the alleged forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly issued by INEC.

According to the party, such actions are capable of creating confusion and undermining public confidence in the integrity and credibility of Nigeria’s electoral umpire.

The party expressed confidence that the Commission would investigate the matter and take appropriate steps to address what it described as a deliberate misrepresentation.