PDP, APC Begin Upload of 2027 Governorship, Assembly Candidates to INEC

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have commenced the upload of their governorship and State House of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination portal.

The development comes as political parties race to meet the commission’s deadline for the submission of nomination forms for governorship and State House of Assembly candidates.

Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH, the PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, confirmed that the party began uploading the details of its candidates on Saturday.

Bature said the exercise was progressing smoothly and would be completed ahead of the August 8, 2026 deadline set by INEC.

“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.

APC Prioritises 16 Incumbent Governors

A senior APC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly, also confirmed that the ruling party had commenced uploading its candidates to the INEC portal.

According to the source, priority was being given to the 16 incumbent governors seeking re-election under the APC platform.

The governors expected on the APC list include Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Uba Sani of Kaduna, Abba Yusuf of Kano, Dikko Radda of Katsina, Nasir Idris of Kebbi, 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 candidates are also expected to include 12 first-time flagbearers, among them Obafemi Hamzat of Lagos, Solomon Adeola of Ogun, Kingsley Chinda of Rivers, Eric Opah of Abia, Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi, Mustapha Gubio of Borno, Jamilu Gwamna of Gombe, Ahmed Wadada of Nasarawa and Baba Malam Wali of Yobe.

The APC source said the party had constituted a committee headed by Jibrin Bancir, Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, to coordinate the transmission and upload of the required documents.

He explained that the committee would receive documents from state party chairmen, verify the information and ensure that all requirements were fulfilled before forwarding the materials to the party’s ICT department for uploading to the INEC portal.

The source added that there could still be minor changes to the initial list of candidates following the review of petitions by the party’s primary election appeal committee.

He said only candidates whose nominations had been cleared by the appeal committee and approved by the APC National Working Committee would be uploaded to the INEC portal.

Earlier, in accordance with INEC’s timetable, political parties submitted the nomination lists of their presidential and National Assembly candidates between June 27 and July 11, 2026.

The process also involved the submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E, as required under Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.

INEC scheduled the submission of nomination forms for governorship and State House of Assembly candidates to begin at 9:00 a.m. on July 18 and end at 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 2026.

The commission’s timetable further provides that the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates will be published on August 8, while those of governorship and State House of Assembly candidates will be displayed on August 29.

The deadline for the withdrawal or substitution of presidential and National Assembly candidates is August 22, while governorship and State House of Assembly candidates have until September 19 to withdraw or be substituted.

The PDP, APC and other political parties are expected to upload a combined total of 28 governorship candidates and 993 State House of Assembly candidates nationwide.

However, governorship elections will not be held in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states because of their respective off-cycle election schedules.

The latest development follows the earlier submission and upload of candidates’ lists by political parties participating in the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections.