The Kabiru Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee of the PDP has manually submitted former President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential nomination and other 2027 candidates to INEC despite the electoral commission’s refusal to recognise the committee or provide electronic submission access codes, warning of fresh legal action if a rival list is published.
The PDP’s leadership crisis has taken a dramatic new turn — and this time, it landed physically on INEC’s doorstep.
The Kabiru Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party on Friday manually submitted former President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential nomination alongside governorship, National Assembly and state assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission — a move made necessary, the faction insists, by INEC’s refusal to provide electronic submission access codes.
National Publicity Secretary Comrade Ini Ememobong confirmed the submission to journalists, as reported by Vanguard. “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,” he said, adding that the submission was acknowledged by the commission.
The faction was equally direct in its warning to INEC. “Should the Commission publish names other than those lawfully submitted by us… we are exhausting every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to ensure that our party is not hijacked or annexed to the ruling party,” Ememobong declared.
The Turaki committee traces its authority to a Supreme Court judgment that left the PDP without a legally recognised national leadership, arguing that the party’s Board of Trustees and a requisitioned National Executive Committee meeting subsequently constituted the interim body. INEC’s refusal to recognise that formation — despite formal notification, the faction says — forced it to seek judicial intervention and ultimately opt for manual filing.
The submission deepens one of Nigeria’s most turbulent intra-party crises ahead of 2027, with rival factions of the PDP now each claiming legitimacy and threatening legal consequences over the nomination process.
INEC had not issued an official response to the manual submission as of the time of this report.
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