- Ondo emerges as battleground amid Candidate nomination challenges
ABUJA, NIGERIA — The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially unveiled the encrypted access codes for its Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP), igniting significant administrative and political anxiety among Nigeria’s leading political parties.
Despite concluding their primary elections weeks ago, many political parties have withheld their candidate lists for governorship, federal, and state legislative positions, only announcing their presidential candidates. The release of INEC’s access codes now compels these parties to finalise and upload their selections, revealing deep-seated internal divisions over the harmonized candidate lists.
The ICNP aims to streamline the nomination process by eliminating manual interventions and late-night modifications to candidate slates. INEC recently conducted a two-day training session for designated political party ICT officers to ensure compliance with electronic submission protocols.
Operating under strict deadlines in accordance with the Electoral Act 2026, the portal will automatically lock out further submissions once the digital window closes. This situation forces party leadership to either upload their finalized lists immediately or forfeit their positions.
Particularly pronounced is the tension within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Following highly competitive and often contentious primary elections in May, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) undertook a “harmonization” process aimed at balancing regional interests and consolidating party loyalty as the 2027 elections approach.
However, this consolidation effort has led to a high-stakes standoff:
- Substitution Concerns: Many aspirants who believe they triumphed in their local primaries now face the harsh reality of being replaced on the final harmonized list.
- Exclusion of Incumbents: Reports suggest that several sitting lawmakers and defected opposition heavyweights have been left off the list in favour of consensus candidates deemed more strategically aligned with the party’s long-term goals.
- Risk of Legal Challenges: By using the access codes to submit a centralized list that overrides local primary outcomes, party leadership risks inciting a wave of legal challenges under Section 84 of the Electoral Act, which mandates strict adherence to democratic primary processes.
Ondo State has emerged as a critical battleground reflecting the friction generated by this harmonization process. Following the legislative and senatorial primaries held between May 15 and May 20, the state chapter has witnessed quiet but intense internal resistance.
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has consistently urged for candidate selection based on “merit, loyalty, and winnability,” cautioning party members against desperation and actions detrimental to party unity. Despite these calls for solidarity, local stakeholders across various federal constituencies and senatorial districts allege that the harmonized list overlooks popular grassroots aspirants in favour of administrative consensus.
With the INEC portal now active, the state leadership faces a dual challenge: successfully uploading the harmonized list to meet the commission’s deadline while managing the risk of immediate post-submission defections or court injunctions from aggrieved aspirants who find themselves excluded from the ballot.
The upcoming days will put the structural integrity of Nigeria’s political parties to the test. The shift from physical, negotiable candidate lists to a rigid digital portal removes the ability for party managers to make last-minute concessions to disgruntled factions. As the uploads progress, immediate repercussions are anticipated, including formal protests to party secretariats, unexpected party switches, and pre-election litigations challenging the validity of the uploaded data.
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