The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has closed its online portal for political parties to submit candidates for the 2027 governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
The Candidate Nomination Portal closed at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11, bringing an end to the three-day extension granted to political parties that needed additional time to complete their electronic submissions.
Several political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Nigeria Democratic Congress, submitted candidates before the deadline.
An INEC official confirmed that parties made use of the additional period granted by the commission.
“It’s obvious. They asked for it and we gave it to them. So obviously, they must have used it,” the official said.
INEC had originally fixed August 8 as the deadline for parties to submit nomination forms and the personal details of candidates contesting the governorship and State Assembly elections.
However, the commission extended the deadline by three days following requests from political parties experiencing difficulties with the electronic submission process.
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, said the extension followed “growing appeals by political parties for additional time to complete the process.”
The latest adjustment represents the second time INEC has extended a deadline for political parties submitting candidates ahead of the 2027 elections.
The APC was among the parties that publicly announced that it had completed its submissions.
The party’s National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, said over the weekend that the APC had complied with the nomination requirements.
The NNPP also reported significant progress before the portal closed. Its founder, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, said the party had submitted candidates for more than 90 per cent of the available elective positions.
The submissions cover candidates seeking election as governors and members of the 36 State Houses of Assembly in the February 2027 elections.
Under INEC’s revised timetable, parties were required to submit nomination forms and candidates’ personal information electronically through the commission’s Candidate Nomination Portal.
Although several parties confirmed that they had uploaded their candidates, INEC did not release the final number of submissions before the portal closed.
A senior commission official, who spoke anonymously, explained that publishing figures while the portal was still open could result in inaccurate information because parties could continue uploading candidates until the deadline expired.
“We’ll give you after tomorrow. We can’t give you figures just because we’re in a rush to inform the public. We’ll give you inaccurate figures,” the official said.
The official explained that INEC needed the portal to close completely before reconciling the information submitted by the various political parties.
With the portal now shut, the commission is expected to review and reconcile the submissions before moving to the next stage of the electoral timetable.
The latest extension follows a similar adjustment made by INEC in July concerning presidential and National Assembly candidates.
The commission moved the deadline for those submissions from July 11 to July 14 after the Inter-Party Advisory Council appealed for additional time on behalf of parties experiencing difficulties with the upload process.
INEC said the extension was intended to give political parties a fair opportunity to complete their nominations.
With the nomination portal now closed, INEC is expected to reconcile and verify the information submitted by political parties.
One of the next major steps is the publication of the personal particulars of governorship and State Assembly candidates for public scrutiny.
The publication is expected later in August and will give citizens, political parties and other stakeholders an opportunity to examine the information submitted by the candidates.
The closure of the portal therefore marks an important stage in INEC’s preparations for the February 2027 general elections, as political parties and the commission move on to the next phase of the electoral timetable.
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