COUNT DOWN TO 2027 GENERAL ELECTIONS: APC, NDC Poised for Showdown with INEC Over Candidates’ Substitution

July 12, (THEWILL) — The decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload only candidates that emerge from the primary elections monitored by its officers faces stiff resistance and possible litigation from some political parties, particularly the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

Yesterday, Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 6 pm, was the official deadline for political parties to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2026, mandating them to submit nominations for Presidential and National Assembly candidates and upload their names, personal particulars and credentials on the INEC portal.

According to Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, political parties must fill forms EC9 with personal particulars of candidates and forms EC9A, 9B,9C,9D and 9E with the names/list of nominated presidential and National Assembly candidates and submit online 120 days before the election.

The presidential and National Assembly elections will be held on January 16, 2026. On August 1, 2026, INEC will publish the personal particulars of presidential and National Assembly candidates (EC9) in line with Section 29(3) of the Electoral Act, which stipulates publication within 21 days of receipt of the uploaded details of candidates for the presidential and National Assembly polls.

Candidates for the Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections will have their turn on August 8, 2026.

There is, however, a hitch in the smooth operations of the first batch following a crisis over the substitution of candidates.

INEC INSISTS ON UPLOADING CANDIDATES FROM MONITORED PRIMARIES

The electoral umpire is insisting that parties like the APC and the NDC, which have been battling with crisis over alleged substitution of candidates, may find it difficult to upload candidates who did not emerge from the primaries monitored by the Commission, citing legal implications.

National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), Mohammed Kudu Haruna, reportedly said, even though the political parties have internal mechanisms for resolving post-election disputes, the Commission will insist on doing the right thing.

“In the commission, we have to wait until they (political parties) make their submissions. That is when the commission will sit to see whether to accept or not, of course, depending on how they adhere to their own internal peace mechanisms. Our own role is to make sure they adhere to their own constitutions when we go for monitoring,” he said, adding, “The way we have configured our portal is such that if it is different, they won’t even be able to upload a new one.”

Haruna pointed to the tenable provision in the Electoral Act, stipulating that a candidate can be substituted when they either withdraw or die. “It is there in the Electoral Act,” he said.

APC, NDC IN CRISIS OVER SUBSTITUTION OF CANDIDATES

Meanwhile, the two major political parties, the governing APC, and the NDC, have been besieged by aggrieved candidates, alleging substitution of candidates by the National Working Committees, NWC, and Appeal panel, in their approved list submitted to INEC.

Investigations show that both political parties share a similar pattern.  The NWC of APC dropped 23 other National Assembly candidates from the party’s final list submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the resolution of more than 700 petitions arising from its primary elections.

The revised list, forwarded to INEC, reflects the outcome of the APC Primary Election Appeal Committee’s review of disputes generated by the party’s May 2026 primaries, said the party officials.

According to documents submitted to the electoral commission, six senatorial candidates, including former Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye and 19 House of Representatives candidates who had initially emerged victorious at the primaries were replaced after the NWC ratified the Appeal Committee’s recommendations. The affected constituencies are spread across Abia, Benue, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, and Taraba states.

Apart from Suswam, who was replaced by Emmanuel Memga Udende for Benue North-East senatorial district, Titus Tartenger Zam replaced Benjamin T. Aber for Benue North-West.

In Ondo State, Elegbeleye was substituted by Olajide Ipinsagbe for the Ondo North ticket; Taiwo Fasorati was dropped for Adeniyi Adegbonmire in Ondo Central.

In Kogi West, Senator Sunday Karimi replaced Aro Samuel Bamidele. In Abia South, Prince Paul Ikonne changed places with Edinburgh Uchenna Erondu, while Mohammed Kabir Bello was dropped for Shuaibu Isa Lau for Taraba North.

The House of Representatives candidates were also affected in Benue, where five winners were dropped. They included Livinus Tsar Adzor of Vandekiya/Konshsha, who was dropped for Sesoo Ikpagher, Ikper Chris Terfa of Makurdi/Guma, who was replaced by Dickson Tarkighir,

In Ondo, the party juggled the list of six candidates. Donald Ojogo replaced Akingboye Leke in Ilaje/Ese-Ode, while Festus Olarewaju replaced Rasaq Obe in Idanre Federal Constituency.

In a letter to INEC jointly signed by APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, and National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru, the party said the changes followed the review of appeals lodged after the primaries and were made in line with the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s nomination guidelines.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, added that while the petitions necessitated a review of some outcomes, the party’s immediate priority remains ensuring that all successful candidates complete the required nomination forms for upload to INEC’s Candidate Nomination Portal.

“Those who are our candidates have, by now, received their forms. They already know themselves; there is no tension about that”, Morka said. Grieving candidates are yet to share Morka’s optimism. For the NDC, the process of uploading approved candidates was still ongoing as at Friday evening, and candidates who have protested against substitution are yet to know their fate until the nomination list is publicised.

APC, NDC REACTS

National Publicity of the NDC, Mr. Osa Director told THEWILL last Friday that the party was still uploading its candidates’ list on the INEC portal expressing hope that the NDC would beat the Saturday deadline. He also admitted that the party was dealing with complaints of candidate substitution within the party lawfully.

“Yes, there are incidents of cries over the substitution of candidates, but the party leaders have settled it and so far, we have not had any outbursts. We have candidates for the 360 House seats and 109 for the Senate,” he said. On INEC’s insistence on uploading candidates that emerged from the primary election it monitored, Director said the Commission would be going beyond its constitutional brief in doing so.

“The truth is that the law is settled in that. INEC can monitor primaries, but it cannot impose candidates on parties; I repeat, it cannot impose candidates. The law states that they can monitor. After the primary election, political parties would set up appeal panels to review the appeals of candidates who seemed to have won and were dropped. INEC cannot say that it is not valid. Parties have the right to review appeals based on complaints, and this is what we have done.”

Asked what the party would do if INEC insists on some clear-cut cases of injustice on a subsisting candidate, he said the party may have to seek legal intervention.

“The law is there. We are a law-abiding party. If we feel that our rights have been violated, we have a cause or seek redress in the court.”

Efforts to get reactions from Director’s counterpart in the APC, Felix Morka, yielded no result as he did not respond to phone calls.

However, Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy to Prof Yilwatda Netanwe, National Chairman of the APC, Mr Abimbola Tooki, said primaries held by the party were all monitored by INEC and so did not fall foul of the Commission’s rule or the Electoral Act.

He told THEWILL that candidates in any political contest have the right to be aggrieved in the outcome, but the party did the legal things to address grievances arising from the contest.

“APC did not organise any primary apart from the one monitored by INEC. And setting up an appeal panel is part of the rules and guidelines guiding party primaries. It is understood that there will be grievances, especially after a political contest like the primary election, and the party has to be seen to be fair to all parties concerned. After all, it is not all petitions that resulted in the substitution of candidates. Some of the petitions were dropped for being frivolous, and where there were substance and genuineness, the party made the necessary changes. The issue of whether INEC-monitored candidates will be uploaded does not arise at all. Our party, APC, did not organise two different primaries. The ones we organised were monitored by INEC. Anything that has to do with party primaries is an internal party affair, not just for APC, but all political parties.”

On the allegations by aggrieved candidates that they were never invited to substantiate their petitions, Tooki said the party had set principles for dealing with petitions as it was impossible to invite every petitioner from across the country to appear in person, more so when it has to work to meet the timelines set by INEC.

Like NDC’s Osa Director, he said INEC lacks the legal right to tell parties which candidate to upload on its portal.  “It is not the place of INEC to tell us who our candidates are,” he said.

However, party Spokesperson, Morka, reportedly said the party obeyed the provisions in the Electoral Act in the conduct and conclusion of its primaries.

“And at the end of them, we made those changes. So, these are legitimate outcomes of our primaries,” he said, adding that “Primary election is a process. It’s not an event. The appeal process is an integral part of the primary election process. It’s not a separate process, and it’s not a process invented by the party to cause mischief.”

PROTEST GALORE BY APC, NDC CANDIDATES AND SUPPORTERS

On Friday, July 10, 2026, a group known as the National Youth Vanguards of APC in Benue state commended INEC for insisting that it would upload National Assembly candidates who emerged at the various primaries conducted and officially monitored by the electoral body across the state, claiming that the party has been most undemocratic in the manner it conducted the primaries.

Samuel Adikwu, Secretary of the group, said the results that emerged from the primary held in the state reflected the will of party members during the APC National Assembly primary election monitored by INEC.

He said that the position of the decision of the Commission will go a long way in resolving the impending crisis in the APC across the country.  Same day, Razaq Obe, an APC House of Representatives candidate in Ondo, accused the party leadership of changing the rules in the middle of the game after President Tinubu had expressly told the governors to be responsible for organizing the primaries in their respective states, disclosing that many of the aggrieved candidates were never invited to appear before the appeal panel.

“Why would a few persons sit down in the name of an appeal panel and decide on the fate of others. Is this a democracy? The last time I checked, Nigeria is a republic and not the estate of a few people. We in Ondo State will pursue this injustice to its logical conclusion, he said and appealed to President Tinubu to intervene in the matter.

In the same vein, a group in Kogi State, namely, Kogi West Rescue Mission, at the weekend, told journalists that it was heading for the law court to seek judicial intervention over the disputed APC Senatorial primary election. According to the group spokesperson, Bala Maiyaki, the party violated the Electoral Act and its constitution and guidelines for conducting a transparent and fair poll, insisting that delegates gave their mandate freely to Ustaz Abubakar Ola.

“Where one primary election produces multiple claimants to a single ticket, the dispute ceases to be political and becomes a legal issue requiring judicial determination,” he said. Curiously, the same Kogi West where the party chose Senator Sunday Karimu as its candidate, executive members of the party at the ward, local government, zonal and state levels besieged the APC National Secretariat at the weekend and urged the NWC to reverse the substitution, insisting that Hon. Samuel Bamidele Aro is the legitimate winner of the party’s senatorial primary.

For the NDC, similar criticisms have been pouring in from Kano, Delta, and Edo. In Kano, the allegations of substitution nearly fractured the relationship between the Kwankwasiyya Movement loyal to the party’s VP, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, while National Assembly candidates in Delta and Edo State accused the party of trading the candidature for their preferred candidates.  In Kano, for example, the Kwankwasiyya movement linked to Vice Presidential candidate, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, accused the state chapter of the party of ignoring the agreed 60/40 per cent sharing formula of elective ticket between the movement and the party structure. The ensuing crisis heightened when aggrieved aspirants filed a suit at the Federal High Court to challenge the outcome of the party’s primary.

Two major cases in Delta State highlight the party’s crisis over the substitution of candidates. In Warri Federal Constituency, Chief Sheriff Mulade, who claimed to be the winner of the House of Representatives primary, has filed a N5 billion damage claim against the party for giving his ticket to another candidate. With the ongoing protests in both parties, INEC may have to intervene legally.

Be Alive for the Next Election

“Obviously, if you remember the case of Ahmed Lawan, former Senate President. Initially, they couldn’t substitute because the person who won the primary was the one on our platform. Eventually, it went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said we can’t tell them that. Whether it is technicality or not, at the end of the day, we had to substitute the person with Lawan,” said National Commissioner Haruna.

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