The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified that access codes for uploading candidates to its nomination portal are issued only to political parties whose national leadership is legally recognised.
A senior official of the Commission, speaking on Monday, dismissed claims that a faction of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by Nafiu Bala, had uploaded a list of candidates to the portal. The official emphasised that INEC deals strictly with party executives whose names are officially recorded and recognised by the Commission.
“I am just hearing that from you. But if you check the INEC official portal, you will see the names of the party officials legally recognised by law, and we are dealing with them based on our established criteria,” the official said.
INEC also noted that it would publish the names of political parties that successfully submitted candidates, along with their nominees, after the nomination process closes on July 14.
The controversy followed social media claims over the weekend that the Nafiu Bala-led faction had uploaded candidates to the portal.
Reacting, the ADC described the reports as false. In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the claims were “a blatant lie” and easily verifiable.
According to Abdullahi, INEC does not issue nomination portal access or codes to any party leadership it does not recognise, stressing that the Commission cannot issue multiple codes to different factions of the same party.
“Otherwise, every impostor would simply upload names to the portal and proclaim themselves the authentic leadership of a political party. That is not how the law or the Commission’s processes work,” he said.
The party challenged those behind the claims to provide proof and called on INEC to investigate what it described as alleged forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly issued by the Commission.
It warned that such actions could create confusion and undermine public confidence in the electoral process, while expressing confidence that INEC would take appropriate steps to address the situation.