The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has demanded an electronic audit of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal over the alleged appearance of 10 candidates it says were not submitted by the party for the 2027 Anambra State House of Assembly elections.
The party, in a fresh statement on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, questioned how the candidates’ EC9E forms and credentials allegedly found their way into the commission’s records when, according to the NDC, it neither collected nor submitted the completed forms for them.
The development is the latest twist in an escalating dispute between the NDC and INEC over the party’s candidates for the Anambra legislative elections.
The controversy began on Sunday when NDC National Chairman, Moses Zuwoghe, accused INEC of removing candidates nominated by the party and replacing them with what he described as “impostors”.
Zuwoghe said the list of Anambra State House of Assembly candidates published by INEC contained 10 “strange names”.
The NDC identified the affected candidates as Umennaajiego Jude Ezenwa for Onitsha South 1; Akpotue Obinna Chibuike for Onitsha South 2; Nwankwo Chiemerie for Orumba North; Maduagwu Eric K for Anaocha 1; and Ngoebisi Obinna for Idemili North.
Others are Isintume Charles for Njikoka 1; Nwachukwu Nonso for Nnewi South; Okeke Ifeanyi Akunne for Nnewi South 2; Nnonyelu Samson E for Ayamelum; and Azotani Chuks Francis for Dunukofia.
However, INEC rejected the allegation, insisting that the commission does not nominate candidates for political parties.
Speaking with TheCable on Monday, Adedayo Oketola, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, said the responsibility for nominating candidates rests with political parties, subject to the Constitution, the Electoral Act 2026 and other applicable laws, regulations and guidelines.
In its latest reaction, the NDC maintained that it followed the prescribed process by submitting the names of its 10 candidates who emerged from the party’s appeal process through the INEC candidate nomination portal.
The party alleged that although the candidates approved through its internal appeal process were submitted on the commission’s platform, INEC rejected them and subsequently published different names.
“The Nigeria Democratic Congress did not submit the EC9E forms of the 10 published Anambra candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The Commission should explain to the general public how it obtained the EC9E forms for these 10 candidates when the party did not submit any of them in the first place,” the party said.
The NDC argued that the procedure governing candidate nomination was straightforward, with political parties responsible for submitting their candidates before INEC verifies and approves the submissions.
“The process is simple: the party submits, and INEC approves,” it said.
The party further questioned how the credentials of the 10 candidates allegedly appeared on the INEC platform when it said the forms had neither been collected nor submitted by the NDC.
“The party submitted the names of the 10 candidates from the appeal process on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC portal, but the Commission rejected those approved candidates,” the NDC said.
“Since the NDC neither collected nor submitted the completed EC9E forms of the 10 Anambra candidates published by INEC, how did the Commission obtain their credentials when it is the party’s legal duty to submit the names of its approved candidates?”
The party called on INEC to conduct an electronic audit of its candidate nomination portal to establish how the disputed names entered the system.
“We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct an electronic audit trail to determine how these 10 candidates were smuggled into its portal through the backend,” the NDC said.
The latest demand has intensified the dispute over the nomination process ahead of the 2027 elections, with the NDC insisting that the electronic records and audit trail of the INEC portal should provide evidence of who submitted the disputed candidates and when the entries were made.
INEC, meanwhile, has maintained that candidate nomination is the responsibility of political parties and that it does not have the authority to select candidates for them.
