The Independent National Electoral Commission and political parties have disagreed over the issuance of access codes required for parties to upload the particulars of their candidates for the 2027 general election on the commission’s nomination portal.
Under INEC’s timetable for the 2027 general election, political parties have until 6:00 p.m. on July 11, 2026, to upload the nominations and particulars of their presidential and National Assembly candidates.
However, several political parties said they were yet to receive the access codes, while INEC insisted that the process had commenced and that party representatives had been trained on how to use the portal.
The controversy comes as rival factions within some political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party and African Democratic Congress, are seeking recognition from INEC to enable them upload their candidates’ particulars.
According to INEC, the online portal for submission of Forms EC9 and EC9A, 9B, 9C, 9D and 9E opened at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, 2026, and will close at 6:00 p.m. on July 11, 2026, for presidential and National Assembly candidates.
For governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates, the portal will open at 9:00 a.m. on July 18, 2026, and close at 6:00 p.m. on August 8, 2026.
Form EC9 captures the personal particulars of candidates, while Forms EC9A to EC9E contain names and lists of nominated candidates.
INEC said access codes for submission of nomination forms became available for collection from Friday, June 26, 2026, at the commission’s headquarters.
A top INEC source said the commission had begun training representatives of political parties to guide them on the use of the online nomination portal.
“We are interfacing with them. They have until July 11 to finish their uploads. It’s too early to talk about compliance or otherwise,” the source said.
“The ICT personnel of the parties know the processes of uploading the required details. Last Thursday and Friday, we had a training for representatives of political parties.
“If they have challenges, our personnel are on standby to assist. It’s nothing difficult.”
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, also dismissed claims that parties had not been given access codes.
“Any party claiming that they do not have the access codes, ask them if they were at the training on Thursday and Friday. Were they expecting to have been given codes without the training?
“The training continues and if by Monday they have not got the codes, then they can now make such claims,” she said.
The nomination exercise is anchored on Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires political parties to submit the list and personal particulars of their nominated candidates not later than 120 days before the election.
Despite INEC’s position, some political parties maintained that they were still awaiting the codes.
The African Democratic Congress, through Bolaji Abdullahi, and the Peoples Redemption Party, through Mohammed Ishaq, said the access codes were not yet available to them and that INEC had assured parties they would receive them when ready.
The two factional spokespersons of the PDP, Ini Ememobong and Jungudo Haruna, had yet to respond to inquiries on the issue as of press time, while the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance declined comment.
The Labour Party was also said to be awaiting its access code.
A senior Labour Party official said the party had been informed that the codes might be ready by Monday, adding that the party had already received nomination forms from INEC and would upload them once the code was made available.
“As I speak to you, no political party has been issued the code you are talking about. Though INEC has released the necessary nomination forms, which our party issued to candidates to fill and return, we will upload the forms and other documents as soon as INEC makes the code available,” the source said.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress also said it had approached INEC for the access code but had not received a response.
The NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said the party was hopeful that it would also be in court to seek a stay of execution of the Federal High Court, Lokoja ruling affecting its registration status.
“We have approached INEC but they are yet to respond to our request. Hopefully, we shall be in court tomorrow to file for a stay of execution of the Lokoja FHC ruling,” he said.
A Federal High Court in Lokoja had on Friday set aside its earlier judgment compelling INEC to register the NDC, following an application by an association known as the Peace Movement Party, which claimed ownership of the logo used by the NDC.
The NDC has rejected the ruling and announced its intention to appeal.
Its National Chairman, Senator Cleopas Zuwoghe, said the party remained confident in the judiciary and assured supporters that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, his running mate and other candidates would remain on the ballot.
“We still have faith in the Nigerian judiciary. The Federal High Court is not the final court in the land. We will pursue this matter through the appellate process and are confident that justice will prevail,” he said.
Zuwoghe maintained that the ruling had not stopped the party’s activities, adding that he had visited INEC to continue the process of obtaining the upload code.
Meanwhile, the National Secretary of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Dipo Olayoku, said INEC had started issuing access codes for the uploading of polling agents for the Osun State off-cycle governorship election.
He said he was not certain whether the same process had commenced for the 2027 general election, but commended INEC for its efforts despite what he described as a heavy workload.
“As for the 2027 general elections, they promised to start issuing the access codes yesterday. I have not reached out to my office to know if they have collected it. But I think generally, we should commend INEC,” he said.
One of the political parties, Because Of Our Tomorrow, confirmed that it had been informed that its code was ready.
The National Chairman of BOOT, Sunny Adenuga, said, “INEC has informed us that the code is ready. We will collect it early next week.”
The disagreement over access codes has raised fresh concern among political parties as the July 11 deadline approaches for the upload of presidential and National Assembly candidates’ particulars.
The post “July 11 Deadline Stands” — INEC, Political Parties Disagree Over Access Codes For 2027 Candidates’ Upload appeared first on TheNigeriaLawyer.
