The parties say they have submitted their candidates ahead of INEC’s extended deadline as preparations for the 2027 elections gather pace

The All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party and New Democratic Congress have completed their 2027 candidate upload on the Independent National Electoral Commission portal, the parties said on Monday, August 10, 2026, as the deadline for electronic submission approaches.

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The development places four major political parties among those to have completed a key administrative stage in preparations for the 2027 general elections, with INEC’s online nomination system serving as the formal channel for submitting candidate details and supporting documents.

The ruling APC said it finished the process ahead of the commission’s original deadline, describing the early completion as evidence of its organisational preparedness for the elections.

APC National Chairman Professor Nentawe Yilwatda said the party had successfully uploaded candidates for all elective positions, from the state Houses of Assembly to the presidency.

“The APC has once again demonstrated that we are prepared for the responsibility of governing Nigeria. We did not wait until the last minute,” Yilwatda said.

“We planned, coordinated our structures and ensured that our candidates were successfully uploaded before the expiration of the original deadline. This is what organisation, discipline and responsible political leadership mean.”

According to Yilwatda, the exercise involved the nomination, documentation, verification and electronic submission of thousands of candidates across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The completion comes as parties face an important deadline in the electoral timetable, with INEC having extended the submission window after appeals from parties that needed additional time to complete their uploads.

The commission had initially set August 8 as the deadline for the relevant stage of the nomination process before granting a three-day extension to August 11.

The electronic nomination process is part of INEC’s broader use of technology in candidate management. The commission’s Candidate Nomination Portal allows political parties to submit, update or withdraw candidates and upload the required documentation, while maintaining an electronic record of submissions.

The PDP faction led by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike also confirmed that it had completed the process.

Jungudo Haruna, spokesman for the faction, said the submission had been completed without technical difficulties.

“We have uploaded our candidates’ names. There were no glitches,” Haruna said.

The New Democratic Congress also confirmed that its candidates had been submitted through the INEC portal.

“We have completed ours,” NDC spokesman Osa Director said.

SDP spokesman Rufus Aiyenigba similarly confirmed that his party had submitted its candidates.

The progress by the four parties comes as political organisations across the country move from internal nominations towards the formal administrative phase of the 2027 election cycle.

The process has already required parties to coordinate thousands of nomination records, supporting documents and candidate details across different levels of government.

INEC’s electoral timetable provides separate stages for presidential and National Assembly candidates and for governorship and State House of Assembly candidates.

A recent review of the 2027 electoral calendar noted that the nomination process was divided into separate windows, with the relevant governorship and state assembly upload period scheduled to close on August 8 before the reported extension.

The commission’s electronic nomination system has become an important part of Nigeria’s evolving electoral administration. INEC says the portal was developed to enable parties to manage candidate nominations digitally, including submissions, withdrawals, updates and substitutions, while creating an audit trail for the process.

For the APC, completing the exercise before the original deadline provides an opportunity for the ruling party to project administrative readiness as the election cycle gathers momentum.

For the opposition parties, the completion of the upload also removes one immediate procedural hurdle and allows attention to shift towards campaign organisation, candidate visibility and the wider political contest.

The process is not, however, the final stage before candidates appear on the ballot. INEC must still undertake the necessary scrutiny and publish the relevant candidate information in accordance with the electoral timetable and applicable law.

The Electoral Act 2026 has also altered the statutory timetable for candidate submissions compared with the previous electoral framework, reducing the general statutory period for submission of party candidate lists from 180 days before election day to 120 days.

The next stages will therefore remain closely watched by political parties, candidates and voters, particularly as INEC moves towards publication of candidate particulars and the final lists.

With APC, PDP, SDP and NDC now saying their submissions are complete, the latest development offers a useful indication of how quickly the major political organisations are adapting to the increasingly digital and deadline-driven administration of Nigeria’s 2027 elections.

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The immediate deadline may be procedural, but its significance is political: each completed upload brings the parties one step closer to turning internal nominations into the formal line-up that Nigerians will eventually be asked to choose from.