The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the presidential nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan submitted by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that candidate nominations can only be made through its designated electronic portal.
The development follows the faction’s announcement on Friday, July 31, 2026, that it had manually submitted Jonathan’s nomination and the names of its other candidates for the 2027 general election to the electoral commission, further deepening the PDP’s leadership crisis.
INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta Messi, said the commission does not accept nominations submitted outside its approved electronic platform.
“Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines,” she said.
However, the National Publicity Secretary of the Turaki-led faction, Comrade Ini Ememobong, defended the manual submission, saying the group resorted to the process after INEC allegedly refused to provide the access codes required for electronic filing.
According to him, the access codes are merely an administrative requirement and not a legal condition for candidate nomination under the Electoral Act 2026.
“Notwithstanding INEC’s refusal to provide us with the necessary access codes, 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.
He stated that the submission included Jonathan’s presidential nomination as well as the names of the party’s governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly candidates.
Ememobong also warned INEC against publishing any list that differs from the one submitted by his faction, vowing to pursue all available legal remedies to protect what he described as the authentic structure of the PDP.
He maintained that the party’s Board of Trustees and a duly convened National Executive Committee meeting constituted the Interim National Working Committee following a Supreme Court judgment that, according to him, left the PDP without a legally recognised national leadership.
He alleged that INEC’s refusal to recognise the interim leadership prompted the faction to seek judicial intervention.
Ememobong further criticised a subsequent Federal High Court judgment on the matter, arguing that it conflicted with earlier decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.
He disclosed that the faction had appealed the judgment and would also challenge alleged discrepancies between the court’s ruling and its Certified True Copy.
The PDP chieftain accused INEC of compromising its neutrality, alleging that the commission withheld material facts during court proceedings and ignored party congresses it monitored.
He also claimed that the crisis within the PDP was part of a broader effort to weaken opposition parties and entrench one party dominance in Nigeria.
Calling on Nigerians to defend the country’s multi party democracy, Ememobong warned that continued attacks on opposition parties could undermine democratic governance, expressing confidence that his faction would eventually prevail through the courts.
