2027 Polls: NDC Accuses INEC of Replacing Party Candidates

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has alleged that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) replaced some of its nominated candidates with names not authorised by the party.
The party’s National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, made the allegation while reacting to the list of candidates for the State Houses of Assembly elections published by INEC. He warned that the development could cause dissatisfaction among the party’s supporters ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Zuwoghe expressed particular concern over names published as NDC candidates in some constituencies in Anambra State, saying they did not emerge from the party’s nomination process. He therefore called on the INEC Chairman to immediately investigate how the disputed names were uploaded and published as candidates of the party.
He said the investigation should also cover other constituencies across the country, including parts of Benue and Imo states, where similar concerns had reportedly been observed by the party.
According to Zuwoghe, the NDC’s preliminary findings raised questions about how names not submitted by the party were uploaded on the INEC portal. He maintained that neither he nor the party uploaded the disputed names, despite being the custodian of the code issued by INEC for uploading the party’s candidates.
Zuwoghe explained that following the party’s primaries and appeal process, a final list of candidates was agreed upon by relevant stakeholders and uploaded on the INEC portal. However, he said some names remained on pending status because INEC’s system reportedly contained different names from reports submitted by officials who monitored the party’s primaries.
He said the party appealed the matter and submitted the names of its preferred candidates, alongside the required documentation, but the issue was not resolved before the names were published.
The NDC Chairman further alleged that INEC obtained Form EC-9 from some of the individuals directly before publishing their names as candidates of the party. He insisted that the names published by INEC were not the NDC’s authentic nominees.
Zuwoghe said the NDC would pursue the matter through legal means to seek redress and restore its candidates. He also urged members of the public and the party’s supporters to note that the names in dispute were not the candidates nominated by the NDC.