Nigeria’s INEC Upholds 66 Candidate-List Petitions and Rejects 64

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission said it upheld 66 petitions and rejected 64 after reviewing complaints about candidate lists for the 2027 governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections. The commission announced the decisions after its meeting on October 29, saying the review would lead to changes in the published lists. The commission considered 69 governorship petitions from 12 political parties across 26 states, upholding 41 and rejecting 28. It also examined 61 petitions concerning state Houses of Assembly candidates from 11 parties across 11 states. Of those, 25 succeeded and 36 were rejected, bringing the total number of petitions reviewed to 130. National Commissioner Mohammed Kudu Haruna said the complaints concerned omitted parties, nominees absent from the membership registers their parties had submitted, and alleged multiple nominations. After examining the complaints, records and applicable law, Haruna said the commission “approved the inclusion of affected candidates and their political parties.” It also removed some previously published names that were missing from the submitted registers and nominations that did not meet legal requirements. INEC published its original final governorship candidate list on October 10. In an October 13 clarification, it said its treatment of party membership registers followed a September 24 Supreme Court decision and that parties could submit complaints until October 24. Following the latest review, the commission said an updated list identifying the affected candidates, parties and states would be published on its website.