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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed allegations by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) that it removed the party’s nominated candidates from the House of Assembly constituencies in Anambra and Benue States and replaced them with unauthorised names.
The commission said its records showed that the disputed candidates were included in Form EC9E submitted by the party and duly signed by its National Chairman and National Secretary.
INEC’s position was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by Mohammed Kudu Haruna, the Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee.
The clarification followed an earlier statement by Adedayo Oketola, INEC Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to the INEC Chairman, who said the commission would rely on its electronic and documentary records to determine what occurred.
“It is, therefore, possible to establish objectively the history and source of entries relating to any candidate whose name appears on the portal,” Oketola said.
Reiterating the commission’s position, Haruna said INEC had documentary evidence showing that the candidates in question were submitted by the NDC.
“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 stressed that political parties, rather than the commission, are responsible for nominating candidates for elections.
The commission also clarified that its role in monitoring party primaries does not extend to determining who should emerge as a party’s candidate.
INEC further noted that all 22 registered political parties designated two technically trained officials to manage their candidate nomination processes after participating in INEC-organised training.
It said access codes for the nomination portal were subsequently handed directly to the national chairmen of the parties.
“Ahead of the 2027 election, all 22 registered parties designated two technically trained officers to handle their nomination process, following training organised by the Commission. Thereafter, the portal access codes were issued directly and in person to each party’s National Chairman, and not by proxy,” the statement said.
According to INEC, candidate lists were produced from submissions made by the parties and jointly endorsed by their national chairmen and national secretaries through the Form EC9 series.
“List of candidates were generated for each party as submitted by the party jointly signed by the National Chairmen and National Secretaries of the party, making the submission in Form EC9 series (A-G),” it said.
The commission therefore rejected claims that it had independently uploaded, altered or substituted the NDC’s candidates.
“Therefore any claim that the Commission independently uploaded or altered candidate information is unfounded and untrue,” INEC said.
The dispute followed allegations by the NDC that INEC had published the names of people the party neither nominated nor authorised as its candidates in some State House of Assembly constituencies.
The NDC identified several affected constituencies in Anambra State and alleged similar discrepancies in other states.
The party’s National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, urged the INEC chairman to investigate how the disputed names appeared on the commission’s candidate list.
The party further alleged that the issue was not limited to Anambra but also affected constituencies in Benue and Imo states.
