The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday denied submitting the names or Form EC9E documents of 10 candidates for the Anambra State House of Assembly whose names were published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party consequently demanded an immediate electronic audit of INEC’s candidate nomination portal to determine how the disputed names and documents were entered into the commission’s system.
In a statement signed by its Director of New Media and Strategic Communications, Agada Abuh Theophilus, the NDC said the 10 individuals were not among the candidates produced through its nomination and appeal processes.
The names published by INEC and disputed by the party are:
1. Onitsha South 1 – Umennaajiego Jude Ezenwa
2. Onitsha South 2 – Akpotue Obinna Chibuike
3. Orumba North – Nwankwo Chiemerie
4. Anaocha 1 – Maduagwu Eric K.
5. Idemili North – Ngoebisi Obinna
6. Njikoka 1 – Isintume Charles
7. Nnewi South 1 – Nwachukwu Nonso
8. Nnewi South 2 – Okeke Ifeanyi Akunne
9. Ayamelum – Nnonyelu Samson E.
10. Dunukofia – Azotani Chuks Francis
The NDC maintained that the nomination procedure requires political parties to submit the names and particulars of their approved candidates to INEC for processing and publication.
It said it uploaded only candidates who emerged from its nomination and appeal processes, but alleged that INEC rejected those names.
“It is the party’s legal responsibility to submit the names and credentials of its nominated candidates,” the statement said. “The NDC did not collect or forward completed EC9E forms for the 10 persons whose names later appeared on INEC’s published list.”
The party therefore questioned how the commission obtained the credentials of the disputed candidates.
“How did the Commission obtain their credentials when it is the party’s legal duty to submit the names of its approved candidates?”
The NDC also referred to an earlier account by its National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, who said he was the custodian of the access code issued to the party for uploading candidates and never uploaded the disputed names.
According to Cleopas’ account, following the party’s primaries and appeal process, Anambra stakeholders, party leaders, representatives of the presidential candidate and members of the appeals panel agreed on a final list, which was signed off by all parties involved.
The NDC said the approved list was subsequently uploaded using the access code provided by INEC. However, it alleged that officials controlling the backend of the nomination portal left several of its candidates on “Pending” status.
The party said the officials claimed the system already contained names submitted by INEC’s field monitors during the primaries.
It further alleged that after formally appealing against the disputed names and submitting its actual nominees alongside a covering letter, INEC declined to replace them.
According to the NDC, the commission subsequently collected Form EC9 directly from the disputed candidates and published their names as genuine NDC candidates, allegedly bypassing the party.
Cleopas described the development as a violation of the Electoral Act and INEC’s own guidelines.
He argued that where the names submitted by a political party differed from those purportedly obtained by INEC monitoring teams, the commission should have left the affected positions vacant instead of preloading alternative names and preventing the party from submitting its nominees.
“At the very worst, INEC could have left us with no candidates for those positions if it was unwilling to engage us on any perceived anomaly,” he said.
The NDC chairman also accused INEC of developing a pattern of preventing political parties from uploading their legitimate candidates and subsequently imposing other names on them.
He alleged that such actions, particularly when involving opposition parties, could create internal disputes within political organisations.
Cleopas vowed that the NDC would continue pursuing the matter until the disputed names are removed and the party’s candidates are restored.
The party called on INEC to conduct an electronic audit of its candidate nomination portal and provide an audit trail showing when, how and by whom the 10 names and their credentials were entered into the system.
The NDC alleged that the disputed names were introduced through the backend of the commission’s electronic nomination system.
