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.
