The Peoples Democratic Party and the ruling All Progressives Congress have commenced the upload of their governorship and State House of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections on the Independent National Electoral Commission nomination portal.
The development follows the commencement of the submission window for governorship and State House of Assembly candidates, which INEC scheduled to run from 9:00 a.m. on July 18 to 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 2026.
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 process was progressing smoothly and would be concluded ahead of the INEC deadline.
“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.
The governors listed are 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 list is also expected to feature several first-time flagbearers, including 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 established a committee headed by Jibrin Bancir, the Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, to coordinate the submission and upload of the required documents to the INEC portal.
According to the source, the committee receives documents from state chairmen, verifies the information and ensures that all requirements are met before forwarding the materials to the party’s ICT department for upload.
The official added that there could 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 who passed the appeal committee’s review and received the approval of the APC National Working Committee would be uploaded to the INEC portal.
The PDP, APC and other political parties are expected to upload the details 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 the states operate off-cycle election schedules.
The latest exercise follows the earlier submission of nomination lists for presidential and National Assembly candidates by political parties between June 27 and July 11, 2026, in line with INEC’s timetable.
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’s timetable 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 can be withdrawn or substituted until September 19.
