The Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party have both firmly rejected suggestions from INEC that they failed to upload their candidates for the 2027 general election ahead of the commission’s nomination portal deadline, insisting their submissions were completed well within the window.
INEC National Commissioner Haruna Mohammed had listed both parties among those yet to upload their candidates, prompting swift pushback. Labour Party National Publicity Secretary Ken Asogwa said the party successfully completed uploading all its duly nominated presidential and National Assembly candidates ahead of the portal’s July 14, 2026 closure, calling media reports suggesting otherwise patently false, misleading, and existing only in the imagination of the purveyors of that fake news. For the avoidance of doubt, he said, the Labour Party successfully uploaded the names of its presidential and vice presidential candidates on 10th July, 2026, four clear days before the close of the INEC nomination window, the process was completed seamlessly and in full compliance with the Commission’s guidelines, questioning why a media organisation would publish such a consequential report sourced from an anonymous INEC official without verifying it with party leadership first, and suggesting the story may have served an ulterior political purpose. He pointed out that INEC has already published its timetable for releasing the final list of validly nominated candidates, meaning Nigerians will soon see the truth for themselves, and urged supporters to disregard what he called idle beer parlour gossip masquerading as journalism, suggesting critics unsettled by the party’s growing momentum should focus on the coming contest rather than propaganda.
PDP National Publicity Secretary Haruna Jungudo issued a similarly forceful denial, responding to a Daily Trust report alleging the Wike led PDP was among the parties that failed to upload its presidential and vice presidential candidates, calling the claim categorically false, misleading and a gross misrepresentation of facts. For the record, he said, the Peoples Democratic Party successfully uploaded the names and particulars of its Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to the INEC nomination portal at exactly 11:50am on Thursday, 10 July 2026, in full compliance with the Commission’s requirements and within the stipulated timeline, expressing surprise that a reputable newspaper would publish a report based on unverified, anonymously sourced information without seeking confirmation from the party first.
