By: Ganiyu Olayinka
The All Progressives Congress (APC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP) have expressed confidence that they will meet the August 8 deadline for uploading the names of their governorship and State House of Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP).
While the APC has already commenced the digital upload of its candidates, the PDP and LP say they have put in place the necessary arrangements to complete the exercise within the timeframe stipulated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
APC begins upload, prioritises sitting governors
Checks at the APC National Headquarters in Abuja revealed that the party’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department began processing the documents on Saturday, as part of efforts to beat the statutory deadline ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Sixteen APC governors seeking second-term mandates are being given priority in the upload process. They include Governors Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Abba Yusuf (Kano), Dikko Radda (Katsina), Nasir Idris (Kebbi), Umaru Bago (Niger), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Ahmad Aliyu (Sokoto), Agbu Kefas (Taraba), and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara).
Also expected to feature on the party’s governorship list are first-time governorship flagbearers, including Obafemi Hamzat (Lagos), Solomon Adeola (Ogun), Ogundu Kingsley Chinda (Rivers), Eric Opah (Abia), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), Ahmed Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa), and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).
The APC’s data-entry exercise covers 28 governorship candidates and 993 State House of Assembly candidates nationwide.
To ensure a seamless process, the party has constituted a dedicated vetting committee headed by Jibrin Bancir, Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman.
“The committee is saddled with the responsibility of collecting and verifying all nomination forms from state chairmen before handing them over to the ICT unit. We are leaving nothing to chance ahead of the August 8 deadline for the closure of the INEC portal,” a source within the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) said.
PDP says upload already underway
The PDP has dismissed concerns about political parties’ capacity to complete the upload within the 22-day window set by INEC. Its National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said the party had already begun uploading candidates’ details after receiving its access codes.
“As a matter of fact, we have our access codes, and we have already started uploading these names. We have strategically positioned sufficient manpower to upload the details of our State House of Assembly and governorship candidates,” he said. “We will do this seamlessly and upload them successfully within the timeframe allocated by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
Labour Party says it is fully prepared
The Labour Party, led by Senator Nenadi Usman, also said it was fully prepared for the exercise.
“We are not anxious over any issue here. It is only when a political party lacks access codes that there is cause for concern,” a party source said. “The Labour Party has its access codes, and the upload will be done in line with INEC’s guidelines.”
The upload exercise runs from July 18 to August 8 and requires political parties to submit, through the commission’s online nomination portal, the names of their governorship candidates and running mates, as well as their candidates for State Houses of Assembly.