Anxiety As APC, PDP, ADC, NDC, LP Yet To Publish Final Candidate Lists

Several weeks after concluding their primary elections, major political parties have yet to publish definitive lists of candidates for the 2027 general elections, fuelling anxiety among aspirants and raising concerns about transparency in the nomination process.

The parties affected include the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Labour Party (LP).

The development comes despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing that it would issue official access codes to political parties for the Candidate Nomination Portal on June 26, 2026.

Findings indicate that many governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly aspirants remain uncertain about their political future as parties continue to withhold final nomination lists.

The delay has triggered allegations of internal crises and claims that some parties are deliberately postponing publication to limit opportunities for aggrieved aspirants to challenge the outcome of the primaries in court.

The APC acknowledged growing concerns among party members over the delay.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, recently appealed to the party leadership to handle the release of the final list with caution.

“The party is supreme. I’m only pleading with the party to ensure that when they release their final list, they include all of us. Some of my people have hypertension,” Akpabio said.

When contacted, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, simply told THISDAY that the list would be released “soon.”

However, party insiders disclosed that appeal committees were still reviewing complaints arising from the primaries.

One senior party official, who spoke anonymously, said, “As we are talking, the appeal committees are still sitting. I doubt if the party will publish any list because it would create a lot of problems.”

Another party chieftain suggested that the leadership was carefully managing tensions to prevent internal sabotage and protest votes ahead of the elections.

The NDC defended its decision not to publicly release the names of successful aspirants, arguing that there is no legal requirement compelling parties to do so.

National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said all candidates who participated in the primaries had already been informed of the outcomes.

“The protocol does not involve compulsory public publication of results,” he said.

He added that the party had fulfilled all legal obligations and that INEC was already in possession of the relevant records.

“Therefore, as it is, INEC already has a list of candidates,” he stated.

According to him, the June 26 deadline was primarily for political parties to authenticate and upload their final nominations to the commission.

The faction of the PDP aligned with Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, said it was awaiting ratification by the party’s National Executive Committee before publishing its candidate lists.

National Publicity Secretary, Haruna Jungudo, said all nomination exercises and appeals had been concluded under INEC supervision.

““we have conducted all nomination exercises, including the appeals by those aggrieved in the conduct of the exercise.

“Our exercise in this regard, both the primary nomination exercise and subsequent appeals, was monitored by INEC.

“We are now awaiting the NEC meeting that is expected to take place sooner for ratification of the exercise. It is only after the ratification by the NEC that we as a political party will upload the outcome of the exercise to INEC,” he said.

The ADC also confirmed that it had completed all primary elections but insisted it was still operating within INEC’s timetable.

National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said, “We have conducted the primaries of all categories of the elections and the processes monitored by INEC. We are within INEC’s approved timetable, so I can say we are merely biding our time.”

Similarly, the Labour Party said it had ratified 1,211 candidates for various elective offices and would begin uploading their names to the INEC portal on June 28.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, said the National Executive Committee had already approved the nominations.