August 10, (THEWILL) — The governing All Progressives Congress, APC, on Sunday said it successfully uploaded the names of all its candidates for the 2027 General Election into the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, just as the Commission extended the deadline for other parties on Sunday.
Mr Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information Voter Education Committee, announced the extension in a statement in Abuja. Haruna noted that the extension of the deadline for the upload of nominations for governorship and national assembly candidates onto the commission’s dedicated portal followed appeals by political parties.
“The submission window which, according to the revised time table and schedule of activities for the general election, originally scheduled to close on Saturday, Aug. 8, has been extended to Tuesday, Aug. 11,” he said, adding, “The extension follows growing appeals by political parties for additional time to complete the process.”
The National Chairman of the APC, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, disclosed his party’s position after the successful completion of the exercise, well ahead of the deadline initially set by INEC.
The APC boss, in a statement released on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, described the development as another clear indication that the party has moved beyond the politics of slogans to the politics of structure, planning, systems and execution.
According to Yilwatda, the successful completion of the upload of names of the party’s candidates across the country from the governorship, state houses of assembly to the national assembly and the presidential elections was a demonstration of the APC’s organisational strength, institutional discipline and readiness for the 2027 election.
He noted that while the APC completed the exercise within the original timeframe, several other political parties were still struggling to meet the deadline and subsequently appealed to INEC for additional time to complete their submissions.
According to him, the ability of a political party to successfully coordinate the nomination, documentation, verification and electronic submission of thousands of candidates’ names across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory within a prescribed timeline is a serious test of organisational capacity.
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“The APC has once again demonstrated that we are prepared for the responsibility of governing Nigeria. We did not wait until the last minute. We planned ahead, coordinated our structures and ensured that our candidates were successfully uploaded before the expiration of the original deadline. This is what organisation, discipline and responsible political leadership mean,” Yilwatda said.
He said the successful completion of the exercise was particularly significant because the 2027 general election would be one of the most consequential electoral contests in the history of Nigeria, requiring political parties to demonstrate not only popularity but also capacity, internal coordination and preparedness.
Yilwatda further stated that the development sends an important message to Nigerians about the importance of organisational capacity in choosing political parties and leaders.
“Governance is not an experiment. The management of a country as complex as Nigeria requires planning, coordination, discipline, competence and the ability to deliver within deadlines. If a political organisation cannot effectively organise its own internal processes, coordinate its candidates and meet simple statutory and administrative deadlines, Nigerians must ask serious questions about its preparedness to manage the affairs of the nation,” he said.
He cautioned Nigerians against political parties that are quick to make ambitious promises about governing the country but are unable to demonstrate basic organisational competence within their own structures.
According to him, political parties seeking the mandate of Nigerians must be judged not only by their campaign rhetoric but also by their internal systems, preparedness, capacity to manage people and resources, and ability to comply with electoral regulations.
The APC National Chairman said the party’s achievement should therefore not be interpreted merely as the completion of an administrative exercise, but as an important early indicator of its preparedness for the 2027 election.
He added that having its candidates properly uploaded ahead of the original deadline gives the party greater room to concentrate on the next stages of its electoral preparations, including campaign coordination, candidate engagement, voter mobilisation, grassroots organisation, policy communication and reconciliation across its various structures.
Prof. Yilwatda also commended the APC National Working Committee, state party leadership, candidates, election management teams and all party officials who contributed to the successful completion of the exercise.
“The work has only begun. Completing the upload ahead of schedule gives us confidence, but it also places a greater responsibility on us. We must remain united, disciplined and focused. We must take our message of Renewed Hope to every community and demonstrate to Nigerians that the APC is not only prepared to contest elections; we are prepared to continue providing responsible leadership for Nigeria,” he said.
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Excluding nominations for presidential candidates, many of the parties still have challenges with nominating candidates for the National Assembly and State Houses of Assemblies.
THEWILL gathered that many political parties are yet to meet the INEC deadline because of unresolved internal crises in the wake of the primary elections conducted in May.
Speaking to THEWILL on the matter, the National Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Osa Director, however, said the party had submitted its list but still awaiting confirmation from INEC, implying that the party has fulfilled its own side of the bargain.
“I can confirm that we have uploaded our candidates lists for all positions. We are only awaiting confirmation by INEC,“ he said.
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