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The People’s Democratic Party and the governing All Progressives Congress have started uploading the names of their candidates for governorship and state Houses of Assembly in preparation for the 2027 general elections.

In an exclusive conversation with The PUNCH, Umar Bature, the PDP National Organising Secretary, revealed that the party started the upload procedure on Saturday.

Additionally, a senior APC representative, who requested anonymity as he was not permitted to speak publicly, shared with our reporter that the party would release only the candidates for governorship and state Houses of Assembly whose nominations had been approved by the primary election appeal panel and the National Working Committee.

Previously, in accordance with the Independent National Electoral Commission’s schedule, political parties submitted their lists of presidential and National Assembly candidates for nomination between June 27 and July 11, 2026.

The procedure also involved submitting Forms EC9 and EC9A to EC9E, as mandated by Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026.

The INEC set the period for submitting nomination forms for gubernatorial and state House of Assembly candidates to be from 9:00 a.m. on July 18 until 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 2026.

The schedule also shows that the personal details of presidential and National Assembly candidates will be released on August 8, whereas information about governorship and State House of Assembly candidates will be made public on August 29.

It also establishes August 22 as the cutoff date for the withdrawal or replacement of presidential and National Assembly candidates, whereas candidates for governorship and state House of Assembly have until September 19 to withdraw or be replaced.

Upon being reached, Bature revealed that the PDP started uploading information about its candidates on Saturday, mentioning that the process is still underway and will be completed before August 8.

He said, “The People’s Democratic Party began uploading the information of its gubernatorial and state House of Assembly candidates to INEC’s nomination system on Saturday.”

The activity has been proceeding without any technical problems, and we are sure that the upload will be finished well before the deadline.

Additionally, an APC representative mentioned that the party has started uploading its candidates onto the INEC website, focusing first on the 16 current governors who are running for re-election.

The 16 current governors listed under the APC include Umo Eno from 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 source also mentioned that the party’s governorship candidates would include 12 newcomers, such as Obafemi Hamzat (Lagos), Solomon Adeola (Ogun), Kingsley Chinda (Rivers), Eric Opah (Abia), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), Ahmed Wadada (Nasarawa), and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).

He said, “I can verify that the party initiated the upload procedure yesterday (Saturday), focusing first on the 16 governors who are running for re-election.”

The party has also set up a committee led by Jibrin Bancir, the Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, to ensure the efficient transfer of documents and materials needed for uploading to the INEC portal.

The committee is tasked with accepting papers from state chairpersons, checking the information, confirming that all criteria are fulfilled, and then sending them to the ICT department for uploading.

The setup is designed to ensure the process is smooth, effective, and prompt.

It is possible that there may be minor adjustments to the original list of candidates, as the main election appeal committee has examined certain petitions and provided its suggestions to the National Working Committee.

Thus, only those applicants who went through the appeal committee’s evaluation and obtained NWC’s endorsement were entered into the INEC portal.

We are certain that the task will be finished prior to the deadline.

The PDP, APC, and other political parties are anticipated to submit a combined total of 28 gubernatorial candidates and 993 state legislative candidates across the country.

The eight states of Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo, and Osun will not hold governorship elections because of their off-cycle election timelines.

Previously, political parties involved in the presidential and National Assembly elections had submitted and uploaded their candidate lists on the INEC website.

Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc.Syndigate.info).