INEC DENIES ALTERING NDC CANDIDATE LIST

The Independent National Electoral Commission has denied allegations that it removed candidates nominated by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and replaced them with unauthorised names in some State House of Assembly constituencies.

INEC said its records showed that the disputed candidates were contained in Form EC9E submitted to the commission and duly signed by the NDC's National Chairman and National Secretary.

The commission maintained that the nomination of candidates is the exclusive responsibility of political parties and that it has no legal authority to select, insert or substitute candidates for any party.

INEC also explained that its role in monitoring political party primaries does not give it the authority to impose candidates on parties.

According to the commission, ahead of the 2027 general elections, all 22 registered political parties designated two trained officers to handle their candidate nomination processes after receiving training organised by INEC.

It added that access codes for the nomination portal were issued directly to the national chairmen of the political parties.

INEC said the candidate lists published by the commission were generated from information submitted by the political parties and jointly signed by their national chairmen and national secretaries through the Form EC9 series.

The commission therefore described claims that it independently uploaded or altered the NDC's candidate information as unfounded and untrue.

The development followed allegations by the NDC that names of individuals it did not nominate or authorise had appeared as its candidates in several State House of Assembly constituencies, including in Anambra, Benue and Imo states.

The NDC had called on INEC to investigate how the disputed names appeared on its candidate list.

INEC, however, insisted that its documentary and electronic records showed that the names in dispute were submitted as part of the party's official nomination documents.