INEC Denies Issuing Special Governorship Candidates List For 6 States

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has denied issuing a special announcement on governorship candidates in six states, describing a publication circulating online as fake.

The affected states are Zamfara, Gombe, Delta, Plateau, Yobe and Kano.

INEC disclosed this in a public notice issued on Monday and shared on its official social media platforms.

“The Commission wishes to categorically inform the general public that the publication is FAKE and did not originate from INEC,” the statement read.

The electoral body urged members of the public to disregard the publication and refrain from sharing it, advising Nigerians to rely on its official notices, press releases and other information published through its verified communication channels.

“The Commission further wishes to clarify that any information suggesting that INEC has issued a special announcement concerning governorship candidates in the aforementioned states is false,” it added.

INEC urged the public to remain vigilant and verify electoral information through its official channels to avoid being misled by fraudulent publications.

The Commission listed its website as inecnigeria.org, its X and Instagram handles as @inecnigeria, its Facebook page as INEC Nigeria and its news portal as inecnews.com.

For enquiries and further clarification, INEC provided its call centre.

The Commission reiterated its commitment to keeping the public accurately informed and urged Nigerians to obtain electoral information only through its official communication channels.

The warning comes two days after INEC published its final lists of candidates for the February 6, 2027 governorship elections, amid reports of omissions involving candidates in some states.

LEADERSHIP reported on Saturday that the governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun and Gombe states, Ladi Adebutu and Isa Pantami, respectively, were missing from the published lists.

The documents did not state the reasons for their omission.