INEC Stands Firm on Submission Deadline
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has ruled out any extension of the deadline for political parties to upload the names of their presidential and National Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections. The commission affirmed that Saturday, July 11, 2026, remains the final date, with parties required to complete the upload by midnight.
INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Haruna made the clarification during an interview with Sunday PUNCH, noting that as of the interview, 14 political parties had already submitted their nominees via the commission’s portal.
Parties That Have Submitted Candidates
The parties that have uploaded their candidates are:
Action Alliance (AA), African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Labour Party (LP), Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Status of Presidential Candidates Submission
Haruna added that AA, AAC, ADC, APC, NDC, PRP, SDP, ZLP, and YPP have already submitted both their presidential and vice‑presidential candidates. In contrast, APGA, LP, NRM, APM, and the PDP faction recognised by INEC had not yet uploaded their presidential tickets at the time of the update.
The APC has uploaded President Bola Tinubu as its presidential candidate and retained Vice President Kashim Shettima as his running mate, although the party has not yet filed candidates for every National Assembly constituency.
The recognised PDP faction also remains without a submitted presidential and vice‑presidential pair.
Provision for Substitution and Technical Challenges
Haruna explained that missing the upload deadline does not automatically disqualify a party. The electoral timetable includes a window for the withdrawal and substitution of candidates, provided the prescribed procedures are followed. Parties unable to complete a substitution online may be required to appear before INEC, where the commission will review the circumstances before deciding on acceptance.
He stressed that the current period is still within the original submission window, so the substitution provision has not yet been invoked.
Young Progressives Party’s Request for Extension
The Young Progressives Party (YPP) has urged INEC to extend the deadline, citing technical and administrative difficulties encountered while using the nomination portal. YPP’s National Publicity Secretary, Wale Egbeola‑Martins, said the party will formally request an extension to ensure fairness, inclusiveness, and the integrity of the electoral process.
Egbeola‑Martins claimed that the portal was not enabled for YPP to upload certain candidates who emerged from primaries conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act and monitored by INEC officials. He alleged that other parties faced similar issues and called on the commission to prevent any candidate from being disenfranchised due to portal problems.
INEC has previously warned that its system will reject candidate names that differ from those verified in party primaries overseen by the commission.
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