INEC Rejects Jonathan’s 2027 Presidential Nomination Submitted by PDP Faction

• The electoral body insists on electronic submission through its designated portal, dismissing the Turaki-led faction’s manual filing as a violation of established procedures.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the presidential nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2027 general election submitted by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Kabiru Turaki (SAN) . The Turaki-led faction had earlier announced that it submitted Jonathan’s nomination alongside the names of its governorship, National Assembly and state assembly candidates to INEC. The group maintained that the submission was carried out manually after it was allegedly denied access to the commission’s electronic nomination platform. However, INEC dismissed the submission, insisting that nominations can only be processed through its designated online portal in line with electoral regulations. Speaking on the matter, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, stated that the commission does not recognise manual submission of candidates. “Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines please,” she said. Eta-Messi also questioned the basis of the faction’s claim, asking: “If the faction claimed that they were denied access to the code, how did they submit the list of their candidates to the commission?” The commission’s position effectively shuts the door on the nomination submitted by the Turaki faction and raises fresh questions about the validity of the candidates presented by the group.

Despite INEC’s stance, the faction insisted it acted within the provisions of the Electoral Act and accused the commission of creating obstacles for its leadership. National Publicity Secretary of the faction, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said the group was left with no option but to submit its candidates manually after INEC allegedly refused to provide access codes required for electronic filing. “Notwithstanding INEC’s refusal to provide us with the necessary access codes, which is an administrative convenience rather than a legal requirement—we have successfully submitted, manually and in full compliance with the Electoral Act 2026, the list of candidates sponsored by the authentic Peoples Democratic Party,” Ememobong said. According to him, the submission included Jonathan’s presidential nomination as well as the names of candidates for governorship, National Assembly and state assembly positions across the country. He further claimed that the documents were received and acknowledged by officials of the commission despite the disagreement over the recognition of the faction. The PDP spokesman warned INEC against publishing any list of candidates different from those submitted by his group. “Should the Commission publish names other than those lawfully submitted by us… we are exhausting every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to ensure that our Party is not hijacked or annexed to the ruling party,” he said.

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Ememobong further accused INEC of abandoning its neutral role in the management of the crisis. “The Commission’s actions have regrettably reinforced the growing public perception that it is no longer acting with the impartiality expected of the nation’s electoral umpire,” he said. He alleged that the electoral body failed to disclose critical facts during legal proceedings involving the party and ignored congresses that had allegedly been monitored by its officials. Ememobong argued that the party’s Board of Trustees and a National Executive Committee meeting had constituted an Interim National Working Committee following a Supreme Court judgment that allegedly left the PDP without a recognised national leadership. He claimed that despite formally notifying INEC about the interim leadership arrangement, the commission refused to acknowledge it, forcing the faction to seek legal remedies. The PDP chieftain also criticised a recent Federal High Court judgment connected to the dispute, insisting that the ruling contradicted existing decisions of higher courts. “The judgment… reads more like an appeal on the judgment of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. It is clearly inconsistent with the extant decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal that form the foundation of our case,” he stated. He disclosed that the faction had already appealed the judgment and would challenge what it described as discrepancies between the ruling delivered in court and its Certified True Copy.

The main PDP leadership, backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and led by Abdulraham Mohammed, has rejected the purported submission, describing the move as “illegal and worthless.” The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Mohammed, said only a legally recognised leadership with authorised access to INEC’s candidate nomination portal could submit names on behalf of the PDP. He urged Jonathan to publicly distance himself from the faction, warning that his silence could be interpreted as approval. “It is just wishful thinking, and the most unfortunate thing about the whole of this charade is how a respected former president of this country, Goodluck Jonathan, has allowed himself to be ridiculed by this group of recalcitrant and disloyal citizens of this country,” Mohammed stated. Mohammed argued that INEC did not prescribe any manual way of submitting a list of candidates, questioning whether the purported candidates emerged from valid primaries monitored by INEC. He also stated that Jonathan’s continued silence “only means that he is consenting to their charade.”

The PDP faction linked the crisis to what it described as a wider effort to weaken opposition parties across the country. “We were the pioneer target for opposition dismantling and capture… but it has now spread to almost all the opposition parties,” Ememobong said. He warned that any attempt to undermine opposition platforms could have serious implications for Nigeria’s multi-party democratic system. “The current APC-led administration has a blueprint to dismantle all opposition parties in Nigeria, and they are going through with it in phases,” he alleged. Ememobong expressed confidence that the courts would eventually determine the matter in their favour and that Jonathan’s name would appear on the ballot as the PDP presidential candidate.

The faction traced the dispute to a Supreme Court judgment on the PDP’s leadership, saying the party’s Board of Trustees and a requisitioned National Executive Committee meeting constituted the Interim National Working Committee after the ruling left the party without a legally recognised national leadership. The electoral commission’s portal for candidate uploads opened on July 18, 2026, with eight political parties receiving access codes for the exercise. The faction has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja after INEC allegedly refused to recognise the interim leadership despite receiving formal notifications regarding its emergence. The Turaki-led faction has vowed to pursue all legal and constitutional avenues to ensure its candidates are recognised. The group has warned that if INEC publishes names different from those it submitted, it would reinforce public concerns about the commission’s impartiality.

INEC Rejects Jonathan’s 2027 Presidential Nomination Submitted by PDP Faction