The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of replacing some of its nominated NDC candidates with names allegedly unknown to the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The National Chairman of the party, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, made the allegation in a statement on Sunday following INEC’s publication of candidates for the 2027 State Houses of Assembly elections.
Cleopas said the names published by the electoral commission, particularly in Anambra State, suggested an attempt to undermine the party ahead of the polls and create disaffection among its supporters.
According to him, 10 persons whose names were not authorised or submitted by the party appeared on INEC’s list as its candidates for various constituencies in Anambra State, the home state of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The NDC chairman called on the INEC Chairman to immediately investigate how the disputed names got onto the commission’s list.
He also urged the electoral body to extend the investigation to other states, including Benue and Imo, where he alleged that the party had observed a similar pattern.
Cleopas said the development had embarrassed the party, its leadership and its genuine candidates, while also creating disaffection among supporters in Nigeria and the diaspora.
“We, as a party, are also carrying out our own independent investigation, the preliminary findings of which are already pointing to the complicity of INEC officials in foisting names purporting to be our candidates, but who are not from us,” he alleged.
He said the party’s investigation indicated that the uploading process was allegedly being used to intimidate and embarrass the NDC.
The party identified the following names as those allegedly published by INEC as its candidates in Anambra:
- Onitsha South 1: Umennaajiego Jude Ezenwa
- Onitsha South 2: Akpotue Obinna Chibuike
- Orumba North: Nwankwo Chiemerie
- Anaocha 1: Maduagwu Eric K
- Idemili North: Ngoebisi Obinna
- Njikoka 1: Isintume Charles
- Nnewi South: Nwachukwu Nonso
- Nnewi South 2: Okeke Ifeanyi Akunne
- Ayamelum: Nnonyelu Samson E
- Dunukofia: Azotani Chuks Francis
Cleopas said the party was particularly concerned about the process through which the names were uploaded and eventually published by INEC.
He explained that after the conclusion of the party’s primaries and appeal process, stakeholders from Anambra, the NDC leadership, representatives of Obi and members of the appeals panel agreed on a final list of candidates.
According to him, the agreed list was signed by the relevant stakeholders before being uploaded to the INEC portal using the code supplied to the party by the electoral commission.
He alleged that INEC officials subsequently kept nine of the party’s names on “Pending” status, claiming that the disputed names were already in the commission’s system based on submissions from officials who monitored the party’s primaries.
Cleopas said the NDC formally challenged the names and submitted the identities of candidates it considered legitimately nominated by the party.
He alleged, however, that INEC declined to replace the disputed names.
The NDC chairman further alleged that the electoral commission later collected Form EC-9 directly from the persons whose candidacies were being disputed and uploaded the forms without going through the party.
“To further confirm that there was a predetermined effort on the part of INEC to impose the said nine candidates on the party, and embarrass both NDC and Mr. Peter Obi, INEC went behind the NDC to collect the Form EC-9 directly from the candidates, bypassing the party, and uploading same,” he alleged.
Cleopas argued that where there was a discrepancy between the candidates submitted by a political party and information received from INEC’s monitoring teams, the commission should have left the affected positions vacant until the matter was clarified.
“At the very worst, INEC could have left us with no candidates for those positions, if they knew they were unwilling to engage us in addressing any perceived anomaly,” he said.
The NDC chairman accused INEC of creating a pattern in which opposition parties were allegedly prevented from uploading their preferred candidates while other names were introduced into their candidate lists.
He said the party would pursue the matter through all available legal channels and seek the restoration of what it described as its authentic NDC candidates.
“We are moving to approach the court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress and restore our authentic candidates. The general public and our millions of supporters should note that these are not our candidates,” he said.
