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Lere Olayinka, spokesperson to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said some presidential candidates in the 2027 election are not contesting with the intention of winning but to register their presence and make an impression.

Olayinka stated this during an interview on Arise News on Friday while discussing the political landscape ahead of the 2027 general election.

He said the number of presidential candidates on the ballot did not necessarily mean that all of them were contesting with the mindset of winning.

“So it is not everybody that contests elections that wants to win. There are people that contest elections just to register their presence. For instance, in this 2027 election, we have 19 presidential candidates.

“Can we say honestly that all the 19 are contesting with the mindset of winning? The answer is no.”

Olayinka cited the 2023 performance of the African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, as an example of why he believed some candidates could not realistically win the presidential election.

“For instance, the candidate of AAC, Omoyele Sowore, had 14,600 votes in 2023. How would that person win the election next year? They know that they cannot win.

“They are just contesting.”

He also extended his argument to the party of former Anambra State governor and 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi.

“Even NDC, the party of Peter Obi, they know they cannot win the election. They are just contesting to try to register their presence.”

According to Olayinka, a party’s grassroots structure and presence across states would also be critical to its ability to compete effectively in a presidential election.

“You don’t have a governorship candidate in 15 states. You only have it in 13. There was an election in Ekiti and Osun recently.

“NDC did not fit candidates. How do you win an election when you don’t have people on ground to canvass votes for you, to manage elections for you?”

He said political parties needed substantial personnel at polling units to effectively manage their operations on election day.

“In Nigeria today, there are 176,846 polling units. To make good impression on election day, you need at least five people to manage each polling unit for you.

“At least. You need five people. We have done elections before, so we know what it is.

“It is not about making noise.”

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The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has renewed its challenge to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the publication of 10 candidates listed as its flagbearers for various Anambra State House of Assembly constituencies ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The party insisted that it did not submit the names or completed EC9E forms of the 10 candidates published by the electoral commission, and demanded an electronic audit of INEC’s candidate nomination portal to establish how their details got there.

The NDC Director of New Media and Strategic Communications, Agada Abuh Theophilus, made the fresh demand in a statement on Wednesday.

The latest development followed an earlier accusation by the party that INEC had unlawfully replaced some of its candidates.

The NDC had alleged that the commission uploaded 10 names that were not authorised by the party as its candidates for various constituencies in the Anambra State House of Assembly.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the party’s National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, said the individuals listed by INEC were unknown to the party and did not emerge from its internal nomination and appeal processes.

INEC, however, rejected the allegation.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, described claims that the commission independently uploaded or altered candidates’ information as “unfounded and untrue.”

Despite INEC’s denial, the NDC has maintained its position, challenging the commission to explain how it obtained the nomination documents of the 10 candidates if the party did not submit them.

“The Nigeria Democratic Congress did not submit the EC9E forms of the 10 published Anambra candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

“The Commission should explain to the general public how it obtained the EC9E forms for these 10 candidates when the party did not submit any of them in the first place.

“The process is simple: the party submits, and INEC approves,” Theophilus said.

The NDC spokesperson further claimed that the candidates submitted by the party through its appeal process were rejected by INEC, raising questions over how the names eventually published on the commission’s portal emerged.

He alleged that the 10 candidates were inserted into the portal without the party’s authorisation.

The party therefore challenged INEC to conduct an electronic audit trail of its nomination portal to determine when, how and by whom the disputed candidates’ details were uploaded.

“The party submitted the names of the 10 candidates from the appeal process on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal, but the Commission rejected those approved candidates.

“Since the NDC neither collected nor submitted the completed EC9E forms of the 10 Anambra candidates published by INEC, how did the Commission obtain their credentials when it is the party’s legal duty to submit the names of its approved candidates?

“We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct an electronic audit trail to determine how these 10 candidates were smuggled into its portal through the backend,” the statement said.

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Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, launched a blistering attack on his longtime political adversary and former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, declaring that anyone who once shut down courts is fundamentally unfit to serve as Nigeria’s Vice President.

Speaking on Wednesday during his monthly media chat in Port Harcourt, the former Rivers State governor spared no words as he took aim at both Amaechi and the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Addressing journalists, Wike urged Nigerians to critically examine the past actions of political figures claiming to champion democracy and the rule of law before trusting them with high office.

“Rotimi Amaechi, who wants to be Vice President today, once shut down the courts in Rivers State and caused a pregnant woman to give birth in prison,” Wike said.

The minister argued that such precedents should automatically disqualify political aspirants from occupying sensitive executive positions, emphasizing that a track record of undermining the judiciary cannot be brushed aside.

Wike further broadened his critique to target the NBA, accusing the legal body of abandoning its historic role as an impartial defender of justice and constitutionalism in favor of partisan politics.

“The Nigerian Bar Association has now taken sides politically. They are now a political party,” Wike declared.

He maintained that the association ought to remain an independent institution dedicated to upholding the rule of law, rather than serving as an arena for political contests or offering platforms that amount to partisan endorsements.