The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that political parties will begin uploading the names and particulars of their candidates for the 2027 General Election from Friday June 26, as the electoral body reaffirmed its commitment to conducting the polls in strict compliance with the Constitution, the Electoral Act and all lawful judicial pronouncements.
Chairman of INEC, Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), disclosed this on Tuesday at the INEC Headquarters in Abuja during the Commission’s Second Quarterly Consultative Meeting with leaders of political parties held at its headquarters in Abuja.
Amupitan said the Commission had concluded the primary election phase and was transitioning to the candidate nomination stage, adding that official access codes for the Candidate Nomination Portal would be issued to political parties on June 26.
“These access codes will enable designated national officers of political parties to upload the names, personal particulars and other required information relating to nominated candidates,” he said.
He urged political parties to ensure that their ICT personnel and relevant officers were adequately prepared ahead of the nomination exercise, warning that the portal would be fully automated and automatically close at the expiration of the stipulated deadline.
The INEC chairman also assured Nigerians that despite ongoing legal disputes surrounding aspects of the Commission’s timetable for the 2027 elections, preparations for the polls would proceed in accordance with extant laws.
“I wish to assure political parties and the Nigerian public that notwithstanding the pending appeals, the Commission remains firmly committed to conducting the 2027 General Election in strict compliance with the Constitution, the Electoral Act and all lawful judicial pronouncements,” he stated.
Amupitan disclosed that the Commission had appealed two recent Federal High Court judgments that raised questions about INEC’s authority to prescribe timelines for certain electoral activities.
According to him, while one court questioned aspects of the Commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 elections, another affirmed INEC’s powers to issue electoral timelines but nullified some provisions relating to candidate nomination and substitution.
He explained that INEC considered the various activities contained in its timetable as interrelated processes necessary for the orderly conduct of elections, including the submission of party membership registers, monitoring of primaries, candidate nominations, printing of ballot papers, deployment of election materials and voter education.
“The absence of coordinated timelines for such activities would create uncertainty, disrupt election planning and undermine the Commission’s constitutional responsibility to organise, undertake and supervise elections in an efficient and credible manner,” he said.
The INEC chairman further announced that preparations for the June 20 Ekiti State governorship election had reached an advanced stage, with 1,059,360 registered voters expected to participate in the exercise.
He revealed that 66,664 new voters were added to the register through the Continuous Voter Registration exercise, while 2,103 cases of double registration were invalidated.
Amupitan also confirmed that bye-elections would hold on the same day in Enugu North, Nasarawa North, Rivers South East and Ondo South Senatorial Districts, as well as Dawakin Kudu/Warawa Federal Constituency in Kano State and Zuru State Constituency in Kebbi State.
He called on political parties to intensify voter education and mobilisation efforts to encourage eligible Nigerians to register and collect their Permanent Voter Cards.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr. Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, urged the National Assembly to review aspects of the Electoral Act 2026, particularly the provisions restricting political parties to direct primaries and consensus arrangements.
Dantalle argued that the exclusion of indirect primaries created significant financial, logistical and administrative challenges for political parties during the recently concluded nomination process.
He said many parties were compelled to adopt consensus arrangements despite having multiple aspirants, resulting in disputes and litigation in several instances.
“The experience of the just-concluded nomination exercise demonstrates that the removal of indirect primaries created considerable constraints for political parties,” he said.
The IPAC chairman also expressed concern over conflicting judicial pronouncements on INEC’s powers to regulate timelines for party primaries, noting that the situation had generated uncertainty among political parties and candidates.
He called for a comprehensive review of the Electoral Act to address the challenges exposed during the nomination process and strengthen Nigeria’s democratic institutions ahead of the 2027 elections.
Dantalle further condemned incidents of political violence in Osun State and urged political actors to embrace issue-based campaigns while rejecting violence, intimidation and hate speech.
