The All Progressives Congress (APC) has begun uploading of its 28 governorship and 993 State Houses of Assembly candidates’ names and particulars on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Candidate Nomination Portal (ICNP), with 16 incumbent governors seeking second-term mandates given priority.
The affected governors are Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, Hyacinth Alia of Benue, Uba Sani of Kaduna, Abba Yusuf of Kano, Dikko Radda of Katsina, Nasir Idris of Kebbi, Umaru Bago of Niger, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto, Agbu Kefas of Taraba and Dauda Lawal of Zamfara.
The party is also expected to upload the names of 12 first-time governorship candidates, including Obafemi Hamzat of Lagos, Solomon Adeola (Ogun), Ogundu Kingsley Chinda (River), Eric Opah (Abia), Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Mustapha Gubio (Borno), Jamilu Gwamna (Gombe), Ahmed Aliyu Wadada (Nasarawa) and Baba Malam Wali (Yobe).
The exercise is part of the APC’s race against time to beat the statutory deadline ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Findings at the APC National Headquarters in Abuja showed that the party’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department commenced processing the candidates’ documents on Saturday.
The party has also constituted a special vetting committee to scrutinise the nomination documents before their final submission to INEC.
Jibrin Bancir, Principal Private Secretary to the APC National Chairman, heads the committee, according to a source within the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
“The committee is saddled with the responsibility of collecting and verifying all nomination forms from State Chairmen before handing them over to the ICT unit. We are leaving nothing to chance ahead of the August 8 deadline for the closure of the INEC portal,” the source said.
BusinessDay reports that INEC opened the ICNP on July 18 and will automatically shut the portal on August 8, 2026.
Governorship elections will not hold in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun because of their off-cycle electoral calendars.
The APC had earlier uploaded its presidential and National Assembly candidates.
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