The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of removing candidates nominated by the party for the 2027 general elections and replacing them with names allegedly unknown to the party.
The party made the allegation following INEC’s publication of candidates for the State Houses of Assembly elections, particularly in Anambra State.
In a statement issued by its National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, the NDC described the development as a deliberate attempt to undermine the party ahead of the elections and create disaffection among its supporters.
“The Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, totally condemns the action of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its officials over the uploading and publication of unauthorized names in various constituencies,” the party said.
The NDC alleged that nine names published for constituencies in Anambra State were not nominated or authorised by the party.
It called on the INEC Chairman to immediately investigate the matter and determine how the names came to be published as candidates of the party.
The party also requested that the investigation be extended to other states, including Benue and Imo, where it alleged that similar incidents had occurred.
According to the NDC, the development had embarrassed the party and its genuine candidates while creating dissatisfaction among its supporters in Nigeria and the diaspora.
The party said its own preliminary investigation was pointing to alleged involvement of some INEC officials in the process.
“We, as a party, are also carrying out our own independent investigation, the preliminary findings of which are already pointing to the complicity of INEC officials in foisting names purporting to be our candidates, but who are not from us,” it said.
The NDC chairman explained that following the party’s primaries and appeal process, a final list of candidates was agreed upon by relevant stakeholders and uploaded to the INEC portal using the code provided by the electoral commission.
However, he alleged that INEC officials responsible for the backend of the portal kept nine names on “Pending” status, claiming the names were already in the system.
According to him, the party subsequently appealed against the names and submitted the identities of its actual candidates, but INEC allegedly refused to replace them.
He further alleged that INEC went ahead to collect Form EC-9 directly from the disputed candidates and uploaded the forms without going through the party.
“To further confirm that there was a predetermined effort on the part of INEC to impose the said nine candidates on the party, and embarrass both NDC and Mr. Peter Obi, INEC went behind the NDC to collect the Form EC-9 directly from the candidates, bypassing the party,” he alleged.
The party argued that the commission should have left the affected positions vacant if it believed there was a dispute over the nominated candidates, rather than allegedly uploading names it described as unauthorised.
The NDC chairman accused INEC of deliberately frustrating opposition parties by preventing them from uploading their preferred candidates while allegedly selecting others.
He vowed that the party would pursue the matter through all available legal channels.
“Even as we move to approach the court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress and restore our authentic candidates, the general public and our millions of supporters should note that these are not our candidates,” he said.
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