INEC deadline: Parties report progress, raise concerns over candidates’ upload

By Henry Umoru, Abuja

Political parties have given updates on the upload of their presidential and National Assembly candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal following the expiration of the July 11, 2026 deadline for submission.

While the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said they had made substantial progress, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presented differing accounts, reflecting the ongoing leadership dispute within the party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the NDC, Osa Director, said the party had successfully uploaded the names of its candidates with minimal challenges.

“The NDC has been uploading the names of its candidates successfully with minimal challenges. We are hopeful that we will successfully upload all the names within INEC’s deadline,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the faction of the NNPP recognised by INEC, the party’s National Chairman, Dr Agbo Major, said efforts were ongoing to ensure all cleared candidates were uploaded within the period prescribed by law.

“Though we had time constraints due to the late recognition of the National Working Committee I lead, we are working tirelessly to ensure that all candidates who have met the legal requirements and have been cleared by the party are uploaded on the INEC portal within the stipulated time allowed by law,” he said.

However, the rival NNPP faction, formerly led by Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and now headed on an acting basis by Bala Mohammed, said it was unable to upload candidates because it was not issued the required access code by INEC.

The faction’s National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, said although its officials participated in INEC’s two-day training on the upload process, the commission issued the access code to the Agbo Major-led National Working Committee.

“As I mentioned earlier, the access code was not given to us. INEC gave it to the other faction, so we do not know how the upload is going. Although our faction was invited for the two-day training on the upload process, the access code was issued to the other faction,” he said.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Araba Rufus Aiyenigba, said the party had overcome initial technical challenges with the INEC portal and had made significant progress in uploading its candidates.

“Despite the initial difficulties we encountered with the inoperability of the INEC portal during the first few days, we are now comfortably uploading our candidates and have made substantial progress in formally nominating them,” he said.

According to him, the SDP has successfully uploaded the names and documents of its presidential candidate, Prince Adewole Adebayo, and vice-presidential candidate, Dr Usman Bugaje.

He added that the party had also uploaded a substantial number of its National Assembly candidates across the states and remained confident of meeting the deadline.

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