NEWS
NDC Raises Alarm Over 10 ‘Smuggled’ Anambra Assembly Candidates, Demands INEC Portal Audit
The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has raised a fresh alarm over the publication of 10 names as its candidates for various Anambra State House of Assembly constituencies, insisting that the individuals were neither nominated nor uploaded by the party.
The party, in a strongly worded statement issued on Wednesday, challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to explain how the names and their Form EC9E documents found their way into the commission’s candidate nomination system.
The NDC described the development as a serious irregularity capable of undermining the integrity of the electoral process and demanded an immediate electronic audit of INEC’s nomination portal to determine how the disputed candidates were entered into the system.
According to the party, the 10 individuals whose names appeared on INEC’s published list did not emerge from the NDC’s recognised nomination, screening and appeal processes.
The party identified the disputed candidates as follows:
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 said the established nomination procedure leaves no ambiguity about the responsibility of a political party in submitting candidates for an election.
According to the party, after conducting its primaries and completing the required appeal process, the party is expected to submit the names and relevant particulars of its duly approved candidates to INEC, which then processes and publishes the candidates.
The party maintained that it complied with this procedure and uploaded only candidates who emerged from its legitimate internal processes.
“It is the party’s legal responsibility to submit the names and credentials of its nominated candidates.
“The NDC did not collect or forward completed EC9E forms for the 10 persons whose names later appeared on INEC’s published list,” the statement said.
The party consequently questioned the source of the credentials allegedly used by INEC to publish the 10 names.
“How did the Commission obtain their credentials when it is the party’s legal duty to submit the names of its approved candidates?”
The controversy, according to the NDC, dates back to the period following the party’s Anambra State primaries and subsequent appeal process.
The party said stakeholders in Anambra, working alongside its leadership, representatives of the presidential candidate and members of the appeals panel, arrived at a final list of candidates which was reportedly signed off by all the relevant parties.
The NDC said the approved list was subsequently uploaded through the access code provided to the party by INEC.
However, it alleged that officials with control over the backend of the commission’s nomination portal prevented some of its candidates from progressing through the system by leaving their names on “Pending” status.
The party claimed that the officials cited the existence of names purportedly submitted by INEC’s field monitors during the party’s primaries.
The NDC said it formally challenged the disputed entries, submitted its actual nominees and attached a covering letter explaining its position, but INEC allegedly refused to replace the names already appearing on the system.
The party further alleged that INEC subsequently obtained Form EC9 directly from the disputed individuals instead of receiving the documents through the political party, before publishing their names as authentic NDC candidates.
The development, the party argued, raises fundamental questions about the integrity and security of the commission’s electronic nomination platform, particularly regarding who has the authority to introduce, alter or retain candidate information on the system.
NDC National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, had earlier described the situation as inconsistent with provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC’s own guidelines governing candidate nomination.
Cleopas argued that if INEC had identified discrepancies between the names submitted by the party and information allegedly obtained from its monitoring teams, the commission should have engaged the party or, at the very least, left the affected positions vacant rather than preloading names and preventing the party from submitting its preferred candidates.
“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 expressed concern that what he described as an emerging pattern could have wider implications for opposition parties and Nigeria’s electoral democracy.
He alleged that political parties could be pushed into internal crises when names are allegedly imposed on them through the electoral commission’s nomination system instead of allowing parties to upload candidates who emerged through their established internal processes.
Cleopas vowed that the NDC would continue to pursue the matter until the disputed names are removed and the party’s duly nominated candidates are recognised.
The party is now calling on INEC to conduct a comprehensive electronic audit trail of its candidate nomination portal, particularly the records relating to the 10 Anambra constituencies.
The NDC said such an audit should establish when the disputed names were entered into the system, the account or access credentials through which they were introduced, the source of the submitted EC9E forms and any subsequent alterations made to the records.
It alleged that the names could have been introduced through the backend of the commission’s system and maintained that only a transparent electronic audit could conclusively establish what happened.
The demand places renewed focus on the security and transparency of INEC’s electronic candidate nomination process, with the NDC insisting that the issue must be resolved before the affected constituencies are allowed to proceed with candidates the party says it never nominated.
The statement was signed by Agada Abuh Theophilus, Director of New Media and Strategic Communications, Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).