By Abigail David
Political parties are making final efforts to upload the details of their candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal ahead of the July 11 deadline, with some reporting smooth progress while others continue to grapple with technical and internal challenges.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Labour Party (LP), Action Democratic Party (ADP) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) said they were on course to complete the exercise within the stipulated timeframe.
The APC said its nomination process was progressing without difficulty, while the PDP and ADC expressed confidence that they would meet the deadline. ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the party had successfully uploaded its presidential and vice-presidential candidates and was completing uploads for National Assembly candidates.
Labour Party acknowledged initial technical issues with the INEC portal but said the problems had been resolved, attributing most of the glitches to discrepancies in candidates’ personal details.
However, the Because Of Our Tomorrow (BOOT) Party said it experienced difficulties accessing the portal after receiving its upload code, although it remained optimistic of meeting the deadline. The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) also admitted it was still resolving internal issues related to the exercise.
INEC had earlier opened its Candidate Nomination Portal for the submission of Form EC9 and other required documents for presidential, governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly candidates.
The APC recently submitted a revised list of candidates after reviewing petitions arising from its primaries, while the PDP dismissed reports of irregularities in its nomination process, insisting its exercise had remained transparent and free of legal or administrative challenges.
