Anxiety over Political Parties’ Non-release of Candidates’ Lists for 2027 Elections

*APC candidates’ lists to be out soon, says Morka 

*NEC to ratify outcome of our primary elections, PDP explains•ADC: We are within INEC’s deadline for submission of lists of candidates
• No law compels parties to release lists, says NDC
•LP ratifies lists of 1,211 candidates for 2027 elections

Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Several weeks after the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), and the Labour Party (LP) concluded their primary elections, the parties have yet to publish final lists of candidates, causing anxiety about the political future of the candidates, THISDAY has learnt.

THISDAY gathered that despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ‘s recent announcement that it would issue official access codes to all political parties to use the Candidate Nomination Portal on Friday, June 26, 2026, the fate of contestants in the parties’ recent primaries remains uncertain.

While the political parties concluded their primary elections weeks ago, they have refused to publish definitive lists of governorship, National Assembly, and State Assembly candidates for the 2027 general election.
The uncertainty triggered widespread political aftershocks, fuelling allegations of deep cracks in the parties.
THISDAY gathered that the political parties are deliberately withholding the lists of the candidates to ensure that by the time the names are released, it would be too late for aggrieved aspirants to court and challenge the process.

However, while the APC has explained in an interview with THISDAY that the list would be out soon, the faction of the PDP backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike, also told THISDAY that it was awaiting the meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) to ratify the various lists of its candidates before their publication.
But in defending its decision not to release the names of successful candidates from its primaries publicly, the NDC has insisted that there is no law compelling political parties to do so.

On its part, the ADC said it was still within the INEC’s timetable and guidelines to submit the names of nominated candidates. In contrast, the LP said that it had ratified the list and would commence uploading to the INEC nomination portal on June 28.
In the APC, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, recently acknowledged the growing anxiety among lawmakers affected by the primaries.

Akpabio, while speaking at the inauguration of the APC National Campaign Council for the Ekiti governorship election, urged the party leadership to handle the final nomination list with sensitivity.
He said some of his colleagues in the National Assembly had developed high blood pressure.
“The party is supreme. I’m only pleading with the party to ensure that when they release their final list, they include all of us. Some of my people have hypertension,” he said.

However, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told THISDAY that the list of successful candidates would “soon” be released.
When asked when the party would publish the list of candidates, Morka, in a very short WhatsApp message, said “soon”.
A senior party official, who preferred anonymity, revealed that the appeal committees were still sitting and expressed doubt that the party would ever publish the list.

“As we are talking, the appeal committees are still sitting. I doubt if the party will publish any list because it would create a lot of problems. Maybe the list would be published on INEC’s website, where everyone will check for their name,” he said.
Another chieftain of the party, who also preferred anonymity, believed that the party leadership was deliberately delaying the release of the candidate lists to prevent possible fallout.

According to him, as resentment from affected aspirants grows over alleged impositions, the party leadership is acting quickly to manage tensions before they escalate into organised internal sabotage or protest votes.
On its part, the NDC has argued that no law compels political parties to publish the lists.
Speaking to THISDAY yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Osa Director, dismissed criticisms trailing the party’s handling of its nomination process, arguing that the protocol governing party primaries does not mandate public publication of the names of successful aspirants.

He maintained that candidates who participated in the exercises had already been informed of the outcomes, while those dissatisfied with the results were free to seek legal redress.
“The protocol does not involve compulsory public publication of results,” he added.
He disclosed that the NDC had complied with all statutory requirements, adding that the INEC was already in possession of the relevant records from the primaries.

“Therefore, as it is, INEC already has a list of candidates,” he added.
The NDC spokesperson further clarified that the June 26 deadline for submitting candidates’ particulars to the electoral commission was intended to allow political parties to upload and authenticate their final lists.
Also reacting to the issue, the Wike-backed PDP said it was awaiting its NEC meeting to ratify the lists of all candidates.
According to the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Haruna Jungudo, “we have conducted all nomination exercises, including the appeals by those aggrieved in the conduct of the exercise.

“Our exercise in this regard, both the primary nomination exercise and subsequent appeals, was monitored by INEC.
“We are now awaiting the NEC meeting that is expected to take place sooner for ratification of the exercise. It is only after the ratification by the NEC that we as a political party will upload the outcome of the exercise to INEC”, Jungudo added.
Similarly, the ADC said it had completed all nomination exercises but insisted that it was still within INEC’s timetable and guidelines to submit the names of nominated candidates.

Speaking to THISDAY, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party had completed all exercises, including the nomination of candidates for the 2027 general election, but is “merely biding its time.”
According to the spokesman of the ADC, “we have conducted the primaries of all categories of the elections and the processes monitored by INEC. We are within INEC’s approved timetable, so I can say we are merely biding our time. ADC will upload the names of nominated candidates at the appropriate time”.

In the same vein, the Nenadi Usman-led LP said that it had formally ratified 1,211 candidates for various elective positions ahead of the 2027 elections.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ken Asogwa, said that the party’s NEC had ratified all nominated candidates and that the party would commence uploading them to INEC on June 28.