2027 Election: INEC Reacts To NDC Claim Of Swapping Candidates
- INEC said its records show the disputed NDC candidates were listed on forms duly signed by the party's own national chairman and secretary
- The NDC had alleged that names it never nominated appeared on its candidate lists for State House of Assembly seats in Anambra, Benue, and Imo states
- INEC said portal access codes for candidate nomination were issued directly and in person to each party's national chairman ahead of the 2027 elections
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FCT, Abuja - The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has pushed back against claims by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) that the commission tampered with the party's candidate lists for State House of Assembly constituencies in Anambra and Benue states.
Legit.ng reports that NDC alleged that INEC removed its nominated candidates from the official list and substituted names the party says it never submitted.
Source: Facebook
INEC said documentary evidence in its possession contradicted the NDC's allegations.
Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Chairman of the commission's Information and Voter Education Committee, made this known in a statement issued on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
The statement was shared via INEC's X handle @inecnigeria, on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.
"As a matter of fact, the Commission has in its possession Form EC9E where these candidates were listed and submitted to the Commission, duly signed by the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the party," the statement said.
INEC's position on candidate nomination
The commission said it had no legal power to select, insert, or swap candidates for any political party, describing nomination as the exclusive right of registered parties.
"Candidate nomination is, by law, the exclusive responsibility of political parties. INEC has no legal authority to select, insert, or substitute a candidate for any party," it said.
INEC also clarified that its role in monitoring party primaries did not extend to influencing who a party fielded.
"Monitoring a party's primary is a statutory oversight function only and confers no power on INEC to choose or impose a candidate," the commission added.
On how the nomination process was structured ahead of the 2027 general elections, INEC said all 22 registered political parties each designated two technically trained officers to manage their candidate submissions after a training session organised by the commission.
Portal access codes were then handed directly, and in person, to each party's national chairman.
Candidate lists, INEC said, were generated solely from submissions made by the parties themselves and jointly signed by their national chairmen and national secretaries through the Form EC9 series.
"Therefore, any claim that the Commission independently uploaded or altered candidate information is unfounded and untrue," the statement said.
What the NDC alleged
The NDC's National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, had raised the alarm that names unknown to the party appeared on its published candidate lists for several constituencies.
The party said it noticed the pattern first in Anambra State before identifying similar concerns in Benue and Imo states.
Cleopas had called on the INEC chairman to launch an urgent investigation into how the names surfaced.
"We call on the INEC chairman to urgently and immediately cause an investigation into the matter and unravel how this came to be," the NDC said.
Before Tuesday's full clarification, INEC's Chief Press Secretary, Adedayo Oketola, had signalled the commission's intention to rely on electronic and documentary records to resolve the dispute.
Oketola noted that "It is, therefore, possible to establish objectively the history and source of entries relating to any candidate whose name appears on the portal."
INEC said it remained committed to transparency and a level playing field for all parties in the electoral process.
Source: Facebook
2027 election: INEC, NDC dragged to court
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that businessman Pratt Tunde filed a federal high court suit after allegedly discovering his NDC candidacy was secretly swapped on August 1, 2026.
Pratt won the NDC primary for Lagos Mainland Federal Constituency on May 29, 2026, with INEC monitoring the election.
The suit named INEC and the NDC as respondents and sought an urgent hearing to prevent ballot papers from being printed with the wrong candidate's name.
Source: Legit.ng
