The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have started uploading the names of their governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The submission process began on Saturday after INEC opened its nomination portal on July 18. Political parties have until August 8 to complete the exercise.
PDP National Organising Secretary Umar Bature confirmed the development and said the exercise was progressing without technical challenges.
“We commenced the upload of our governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates on Saturday,” Bature said.
“The exercise has progressed smoothly, and we expect to complete it well before the deadline.” He added.
An APC official also confirmed the development saying the party gave priority to incumbent governors seeking re-election.
The APC official said the party created a committee to coordinate the submission process. Jibrin Bancir, Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, leads the committee.
The committee receives nomination documents from state chairmen. It checks every document and forwards approved nominations to the ICT department for upload.
The official said the party uploaded only candidates who cleared the primary election appeal process and secured approval from the National Working Committee.
He added that the appeal committee reviewed petitions before sending its recommendations to the NWC.
The APC expects to field 16 incumbent governors seeking another term. They 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 will also present several first-time governorship candidates. They include Obafemi Hamzat in Lagos, Solomon Adeola in Ogun, Kingsley Chinda in Rivers, Eric Opah in Abia, Mohammed Abubakar in Bauchi, Mustapha Gubio in Borno, Jamilu Gwamna in Gombe, Ahmed Wadada in Nasarawa and Baba Malam Wali in Yobe.
However, INEC earlier accepted the nomination lists of presidential and National Assembly candidates from June 27 to July 11, 2026.
Political parties also submitted Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E in line with Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
The commission will publish the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates on August 8 and publish the governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates on August 29.
Political parties can replace or withdraw presidential and National Assembly candidates until August 22. They can replace or withdraw governorship and state Assembly candidates until September 19.
Political parties will nominate candidates for 28 governorship elections and 993 state Houses of Assembly seats.
Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun will not hold governorship elections because they operate off-cycle election calendars.
