The Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) says the party has candidates in all states for the 2027 general election.
Speaking recently, Osa Director, NDC national publicity secretary, said claims that the party is not fielding candidates in some states are false.
Recall that, Okoi Obono-Obla, a former presidential adviser, said the NDC is facing a major electoral setback ahead of the January 15, 2027, general election.
Obono-Obla, in a post, said the opposition party failed to field governorship candidates in 11 states, covering 233 LGAs across the country.
He said the provisional list of governorship candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicated that the party did not feed candidates in Cross River, Borno, Ebonyi, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara and Akwa Ibom.
The ex-presidential aide said the 233 affected LGAs represent about 30.1 percent of 774 LGAs in Nigeria.
He said the development could weaken the party’s grassroots mobilisation and polling-unit coverage as it prepares for a presidential election.
Obono-Obla said the NDC filed candidates for about 70 percent of the national assembly positions, leaving approximately 141 federal constituencies without candidates for the house of representatives.
“On August 29, 2026, INEC displayed provisional governorship candidates. By August 31, field checks confirmed NDC has no candidate in 11 states,” Obono-Obla said.
“NDC filed only 70 percent of national assembly which is 328 of 469.
According to the ex-presidential aide, about 141 federal constituencies will have no NDC logo on January 15.
“To win President, you need 25% in 24 states. With 11 states having no structure (233 LGAs), you must get 25% in states where you have no coordinators.
“NDC enters the triple election of Jan 15, 2027, with 233 LGAs (30.1% of Nigeria) and 141 federal constituencies blank.
“The failure of 2026 filing cannot be cured by substitution. It will cost 4-6 million votes on Jan 15 – not from lack of popularity, but from lack of ballot presence and agent coverage.”
However, the NDC spokesperson said that the party has placeholders in Katsina and Niger, insisting that it has candidates across all the states.
Director added that John Odey remains the party’s governorship candidate in Cross River state.
“Those are all lies from the pit of hell. If the All Progressives Congress (APC) want to win the election, they don’t have to win the election through propaganda that they cannot defend,” he said.
“In the least situation of some of these cases, we have placeholders. You don’t have to lie about that. The electoral body has allowed for that,” he said.
According to him, the controversy should be settled by INEC’s official records rather than reports by partisan politicians.
“If you say we don’t have candidates, let him prove that we don’t have candidates. I’m telling you that we have candidates in all the states. Some of the states, we have placeholders,” he said.
He said evidence showing that the NDC does not have candidates and placeholders in the constituencies mentioned should be presented.
DrumAfricanews verified and found out that the INEC portal had not listed NDC governorship candidates in any of the 11 states.
NDC governorship candidates whose particulars are on INEC portal include Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim (Bauchi), James Ene Nwannaji (Enugu), Abdulmunin Yinka Ajia in (Kwara), Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo (Kano), Funso Doherty (Lagos), Dogo Danladi Shammah (Nasarawa), Bolaji Odusina (Ogun), Yusuf Akim Adebola (Oyo), Dumo Lulu-Briggs (Rivers), Mohammed Yahya (Taraba), and Odey John (Cross River).
