The faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of bias in its leadership crisis, disclosing that the commission denied it access code to submit the names of its presidential candidate, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and other nominated candidates for the 2027 general election.
The faction, however, said it has successfully submitted the list of the candidates, manually, in compliance with the Electoral Act 2026.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP Interim National Working Committee (INWC), Ini Ememobong, at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, disclosed that the list contained the names of former President Jonathan, as well as all governorship, National Assembly and state Assembly candidates, adding that INEC acknowledged the receipt.
Ememobong warned that if the commission proceeds to publish the names of persons other than those validly sponsored by the Turaki-led faction of PDP, it would “only deepen public concerns regarding its neutrality and strengthen the perception that it is lending institutional support to individuals whose primary objective is to weaken the opposition from within.”
The party called on INEC Prof. Joash Amupitan to adopt a prudent course in handling the PDP leadership crisis.
“The present leadership of INEC must therefore appreciate that public confidence is the foundation upon which electoral legitimacy rests.
“When citizens lose confidence in the impartiality of the electoral umpire, elections inevitably lose credibility,” he stated.
He, however, advised PDP members and supporters not to worry if Jonathan’s name and the names of other nominated candidates were not among the list of candidates soon to be published by INEC.
“We are exhausting every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to ensure that our party is not hijacked or annexed to the ruling party,” the spokesperson stated.
He expressed the hope that the faction would triumph despite the frustrations.
“We understood from the very beginning that this struggle would be a marathon and not a sprint.
“We remain willing and prepared to endure to the very end, confident that when this difficult chapter in our nation’s political history is eventually closed, history will remember those who stood firmly for principle over expediency, courage over compromise, and democracy over convenience,” Ememobong stated.
