RismadarVoice Reporters, August 1, 2026
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the presidential nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan submitted by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), deepening the party’s leadership crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Turaki faction had earlier insisted that it manually submitted Jonathan’s nomination, alongside the names of its other candidates, to INEC after the commission allegedly failed to provide the access codes required for electronic submission.
However, INEC Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, said that nominations could only be submitted through the commission’s designated electronic platform.
“Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines,” she said.
But the Turaki faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, maintained that the committee acted in accordance with the Electoral Act 2026 by submitting its candidates manually.
He claimed that the faction had submitted Jonathan’s presidential nomination as well as its governorship candidates, National Assembly and state assembly seats, despite INEC’s refusal to provide the necessary access codes.
Ememobong said the submission had been acknowledged by the commission and warned INEC against publishing a candidate list different from the one submitted by his faction.
He said the group would pursue all available constitutional and legal avenues to protect what it described as the authentic structure of the PDP.
The dispute is rooted in the party’s prolonged leadership crisis. Ememobong said the PDP’s Board of Trustees and a requisitioned National Executive Committee meeting constituted an Interim National Working Committee following a Supreme Court judgment which, according to the faction, left the party without a legally recognised national leadership.
He alleged that INEC’s refusal to recognise the interim leadership prompted the faction to seek judicial intervention.
Ememobong also criticised a subsequent Federal High Court judgment, describing it as inconsistent with earlier decisions of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. He disclosed that the faction had appealed the judgment and planned to challenge alleged discrepancies between the judgment delivered in court and its Certified True Copy.
The PDP faction further accused INEC of failing to maintain the neutrality expected of the electoral umpire in resolving the dispute.
Ememobong alleged that the commission withheld relevant information during court proceedings and disregarded congresses monitored by the electoral body.
He also claimed that the crisis affecting the PDP was part of a broader effort to weaken opposition parties and promote one-party dominance in Nigeria.
The Turaki-led faction called on Nigerians to defend multiparty democracy, warning that continued interference in opposition parties could undermine democratic competition and consolidation.
