2027 polls: Parties rush to meet INEC uploading deadline

Political parties are recording mixed fortunes in the ongoing upload of candidates on the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

With the electoral umpire insisting on July 11 as deadline for the exercise, a host of the parties are having challenges and may not meet the deadline.

Although, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC), among others, yesterday, said that they were able to upload their candidates on INEC portal, some others said they could not accomplish the task with ease, expressing regret over the adoption of the method by the electoral umpire.

Apart from issues with the portal, a host of the parties are yet to conclude selection of running mates for their governorship candidates and some are still resolving nagging issues arising from the primaries.

However, the National Chairman of Because Of Our Tomorrow (BOOT) Party, Sonny Adenuga, confirmed that it had been difficult to use the INEC portal to upload its candidates for the 2027 general elections after receiving the code last week.

Adenuga said: “We are complying as usual. We will upload all our candidates before the deadline.”

However, he expressed disappointment with the current challenge the party was facing with the portal.

When asked if he had called INEC’s attention to the challenge while trying to upload the party’s candidates, he said, “Yes”.

But Labour Party has no challenge in uploading its candidates for the next general election, according to an official of the party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ken Asogwa, confirmed this development in a telephone interview with Vanguard in Abuja yesterday.

He, however, admitted that LP, like most other parties, initially encountered some technical difficulties, adding that the issue had, however, been since resolved.

In response to a question about the nature of the challenges, LP spokesperson said: “We started uploading last week. It has been seamless. The only challenge has been technical.

“You know INEC has automated its system and we earlier submitted a list of successful candidates which has been uploaded in their system. The system sometimes rejects particulars if they do not match what it has.

“If, for instance, a candidate’s surname appears first on their list and we try to load using the same candidate’s first name first, the system may reject it. However, when this is reversed, the process is seamless.”

He noted that apart from the technical challenge, which has now been addressed, the party did not encounter any other issues while uploading the particulars of its candidates.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, declined to comment on the uploading process and deadline set by INEC, when Vanguard asked for inputs.

INEC had earlier opened its Candidate Nomination Portal for political parties to submit Form EC9 and other required documents for presidential, governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly candidate

The Action Democratic Party (ADP) stated that it was in compliance with the INEC directive and was progressing to meet the deadline.

The ADP National Chairman, Engr. Yabagi Yusuf Sani, said: “We are fully compliant and progressing to meet the deadlines by INEC.”

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) said it had been uploading the names of its candidates with little or no challenges and expressed optimism that it would meet INEC’s deadline.

The National Publicity Secretary of NDC, Osa Director, said: “At the NDC, we have been uploading the names of our candidates with little or no challenges.

“ We are confident that we shall meet the deadline set by INEC. Our reconciliation committee and the national leadership of our party are working tirelessly to resolve all outstanding issues emanating from our primaries. We thank our loyal and dedicated members for their understanding and cooperation,” Director said.

On his part, the National Secretary of New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, Dipo Olayoku, said he was not aware of the progress being made since INEC granted them access code to upload its candidates.

On its part, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said it was not encountering any challenge interfacing with the INEC portal, disclosing that the upload of its candidates’ particulars was proceeding seamlessly and on course to meet the commission’s deadline.

A top source within the APC hierarchy said the party had no issues interfacing with the INEC portal, noting that the upload of its candidates’ particulars was proceeding seamlessly to meet the July 11 deadline.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) declared that they were ‘on cruise control’ on the matter.

Both opposition parties, expressed confidence in their preparations, saying they were making steady progress and remained on course to meet the deadline.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Haruna Jungudo, said the party had encountered no technical, legal or administrative challenges since the exercise began.

The ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, also said that his party had successfully uploaded its presidential and vice-presidential candidates and was on schedule to complete the process for its National Assembly candidates.

“We are cruising, we are on cruise control. We are fine and have no issues at all. Since we started, everything has been going smoothly. We have encountered no challenges; technical, legal or otherwise, so far. Everything is progressing smoothly, and we are uploading the names of our candidates,” Jungudo said.

He also dismissed reports of irregularities in the nomination process.

“We have had no cases of wrongful or illegal substitution of candidates’ names,” he said.

“The general public, particularly members of the party and our candidates, should redouble their efforts because there are no legal impediments to the party’s success in the forthcoming general elections.

“They should disregard those circulating fake nomination forms and attempting to cause distractions. The pending court case coming up on Tuesday should not be a source of concern to any party member, especially our candidates,” he said. – Vanguard.