Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential nomination for the 2027 election, submitted by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has been rejected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The development follows the insistence by the Turaki-led faction that it had manually submitted Jonathan’s nomination and the names of other PDP candidates for the 2027 general elections to INEC, despite an ongoing leadership dispute within the party.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, clarified that the commission does not accept candidate nominations outside its designated electronic submission platform.
According to her, all political parties are required to submit candidates through INEC’s dedicated online portal in line with the commission’s regulations and guidelines.
However, the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, maintained that the group resorted to manual submission after INEC allegedly failed to provide the access codes needed for electronic filing.
He argued that the access codes were only an administrative requirement and not a legal condition under the Electoral Act 2026.
Ememobong said the faction successfully submitted the list of candidates, including Jonathan’s presidential nomination as well as governorship, National Assembly and state assembly candidates, claiming the documents were received by the commission despite the disagreement over the party’s leadership.
He warned INEC against publishing any candidate list different from the one submitted by his faction, stressing that the group would pursue every constitutional and legal means to protect what it described as the authentic PDP.
The spokesman explained that the party’s current leadership crisis began after the Supreme Court ruled in a manner that, according to the faction, left the PDP without a legally recognised national leadership. He said the party’s Board of Trustees and a specially convened National Executive Committee meeting subsequently constituted an Interim National Working Committee.
He further claimed that INEC refused to recognise the interim leadership despite being formally notified, forcing the party to seek judicial intervention.
Ememobong also criticised a Federal High Court judgment on the matter, describing it as inconsistent with previous Supreme Court and Court of Appeal decisions. He disclosed that the faction had appealed the ruling and would also challenge alleged discrepancies between the judgment delivered in court and its Certified True Copy.
The PDP chieftain accused INEC of failing to remain neutral in the leadership dispute, alleging that the commission withheld important facts during court proceedings and ignored congresses it had monitored.
He further alleged that the challenges facing the PDP were part of a broader attempt to weaken opposition parties and create a one-party state, urging Nigerians to defend the country’s multi-party democracy.
Despite the setback, Ememobong expressed confidence that the Turaki-led faction would eventually prevail through the courts.
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