The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have started uploading the names and particulars of their governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections on the nomination portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The opposition PDP had on Saturday commenced the exercise, the PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, said. A senior APC official also said the ruling party had also started submitting the details of candidates cleared by its primary election appeal panel and National Working Committee (NWC).

Speaking on the exercise, Bature said there had not been any technical problem in the PDP since the process began.

“The Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday began uploading information of its governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates to the INEC nomination portal.

“The exercise has been going well, no technical issues and we are confident the upload process will be completed well ahead of the deadline,” he said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had set aside July 18 to August 8, 2026 for the submission of nomination forms by governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates, from 9am to 6pm.

Political parties earlier submitted nomination lists for their presidential and National Assembly candidates from June 27 to July 11.

The exercise was based on the presentation of the Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E as contained in Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.

A party chieftain who spoke to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media said the party was giving priority to serving governors seeking re-election.

“The upload process started yesterday and I can confirm that the party prioritised those 16 governors seeking re-election,” said the official.

The APC source added that only candidates whose nominations survived petitions before the primary election appeal committee and got the approval of the NWC would be uploaded.

“There could be some minor changes in the original list of candidates as the primary election appeal committee had looked into some petitions and submitted its recommendations to the National Working Committee,” the source said.

So, only the candidates that went through the appeal committee review and got clearance from NWC were uploaded to INEC portal.

“We are confident that exercise will be completed before deadline.”

Among the incumbent governors, the APC list will likely include Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Uba Sani of Kaduna, Abba Yusuf of Kano, Dikko Radda of Katsina and Nasir Idris of Kebbi.

Others are Umaru Bago of Niger, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto, Agbu Kefas of Taraba and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara.

First-time flagbearers like the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat; Senator Solomon Adeola in Ogun; Kingsley Chinda in Rivers; and Eric Opah in Abia are also expected to make the party’s governorship list.

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Our source further said the party has also announced the names of Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), Ahmed Wadada (Nasarawa) and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).

He said that APC had constituted a committee to be headed by Jibrin Bancir, the Principal Private Secretary to the party’s national chairman to coordinate the collection and transmission of documents needed for the exercise.

“The committee obtains the documents from state chairmen, cross checks the details, ensures that all the requirements are met and forwards same to the ICT department for uploading.

“The arrangement is to make the process seamless, efficient and timely,” the source added.

The INEC timetable stipulates that the personal particulars of candidates for the presidency and the National Assembly will be published on August 8.

The details of the governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates are scheduled for display on August 29.

Political parties have until 22 August to withdraw or substitute candidates for president and the National Assembly while those for governorships and state assemblies must be withdrawn or substituted by 19 September.

A total of 28 governorship candidates and 993 candidates for state Houses of Assembly are expected to be fielded by the PDP, APC and other political parties across the country.

Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states will not hold governorship elections as their elections are held outside the general election cycle.

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