The commission said its official records indicated that the disputed names were submitted by the NDC itself and authenticated by the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary.
INEC made the clarification in a statement issued on Tuesday by Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee.
The commission explained that the names in question were contained in Form EC9E submitted to INEC by the party.
“As a matter of fact, the Commission has in its possession, Form EC9E where these candidates were listed and submitted to the Commission duly signed by the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the party,” INEC said.
The electoral body stressed that political parties have sole responsibility for selecting and submitting their candidates, noting that INEC lacks the legal authority to replace or impose candidates on any party.
“Candidate nomination is, by law, the exclusive responsibility of political parties. INEC has no legal authority to select, insert, or substitute a candidate for any party,” the commission stated.
INEC also clarified that its role in monitoring party primaries does not extend to determining who should emerge as a party’s candidate.
“Monitoring a party’s primary is a statutory oversight function only and confers no power on INEC to choose or impose a candidate,” it said.
The commission further disclosed that all 22 registered political parties had nominated two technically trained officials each to manage their candidate nomination processes ahead of the 2027 general elections.
According to INEC, the officials received training from the commission, after which portal access credentials were personally handed to the national chairmen of the respective parties.
It added that candidate lists published by the commission were generated from submissions made by the political parties through the Form EC9 series.
“List of candidates were generated for each party as submitted by the party jointly signed by the National Chairmen and National Secretaries of the party, making the submission in Form EC9 series (A-G),” the statement added.
INEC therefore described claims that it independently uploaded or modified the NDC’s candidate information as false.
“Therefore any claim that the Commission independently uploaded or altered candidate information is unfounded and untrue,” the commission said.
The controversy began after the NDC accused INEC of removing candidates nominated by the party and replacing them with individuals the party claimed it did not authorise.
The party said the alleged discrepancies were discovered in several State House of Assembly constituencies in Anambra and also reported similar concerns in Benue and Imo states.
NDC National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, subsequently called on the INEC Chairman to investigate the matter and establish how the disputed names appeared on the commission’s candidate list.
“We call on the INEC chairman to urgently and immediately cause an investigation into the matter and unravel how this came to be,” the party said.
INEC, however, maintained that its electronic and documentary records could be used to trace the origin of every candidate entry on its platform.
The commission assured political parties and other stakeholders that it would continue to uphold transparency, accountability and fairness in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 elections.
