The Independent National Electoral Commission and political parties have disagreed over the issuance of access codes required for parties to upload the particulars of their candidates for the 2027 general election on the commission’s nomination portal.
Under INEC’s timetable for the 2027 general election, political parties have until 6:00 p.m. on July 11, 2026, to upload the nominations and particulars of their presidential and National Assembly candidates.
However, several political parties said they were yet to receive the access codes, while INEC insisted that the process had commenced and that party representatives had been trained on how to use the portal.
The controversy comes as rival factions within some political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party and African Democratic Congress, are seeking recognition from INEC to enable them upload their candidates’ particulars.
According to INEC, the online portal for submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E opened at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and will close at 6:00 p.m. on July 11, 2026, for presidential and National Assembly candidates.
For governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates, the portal will open at 9:00 a.m. on July 18, 2026, and close at 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 2026.
Form EC9 captures the personal particulars of candidates, while Forms EC9A to EC9E contain names and lists of nominated candidates.
INEC said access codes for submission of nomination forms became available for collection from Friday, June 26, 2026, at the commission’s headquarters.
A top INEC source said the commission had begun training representatives of political parties to guide them on the use of the online nomination portal.
“We are interfacing with them. They have until July 11 to finish their uploads. It’s too early to talk about compliance or otherwise,” the source said.
“The ICT personnel of the parties know the processes of uploading the required details. Last Thursday and Friday, we had a training for representatives of political parties.
“If they have challenges, our personnel are on standby to assist. It’s nothing difficult.”
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, also dismissed claims that parties had not been given access codes.
“Any party claiming that they do not have the access codes, ask them if they were at the training on Thursday and Friday. Were they expecting to have been given codes without the training?
“The training continues and if by Monday they have not got the codes, then they can now make such claims,” she said.
The nomination exercise is anchored on Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires political parties to submit the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates not later than 120 days before the election.
Despite INEC’s position, some political parties maintained that they were still awaiting the codes.
The African Democratic Congress, through Bolaji Abdullahi, and the Peoples Redemption Party, through Mohammed Ishaq, said the access codes were not yet available to them and that INEC had assured parties they would receive them when ready.
The two factional spokespersons of the PDP, Ini Ememobong and Jungudo Haruna, had yet to respond to inquiries on the issue as of press time, while the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance declined comment.
The Labour Party was also said to be awaiting its access code.