The leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken another dramatic turn after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rejected the presidential nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan submitted by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the party.
The development comes just hours after the Turaki camp announced that it had manually submitted Jonathan’s nomination, alongside the names of its governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly candidates, for the 2027 general elections.
However, INEC insisted that candidate nominations can only be submitted electronically through its official portal.
Responding to the claims, INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, dismissed the manual submission.
“Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines,” she said.
Despite the commission’s position, the Turaki-led faction maintained that its manual submission complied fully with the Electoral Act 2026, arguing that it had no choice after INEC allegedly refused to provide the access codes required for electronic submission.
According to the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the access codes are merely an administrative requirement and not a legal condition for valid nomination.
“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,” Ememobong said.
He added that the submission included Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential nomination as well as all other candidates fielded by the faction, claiming the documents were acknowledged by INEC.
Ememobong warned the electoral commission against publishing any list different from the one submitted by his faction.
“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,” he stated.
The PDP faction also accused INEC of abandoning its constitutional neutrality in handling the party’s leadership dispute.
“The Commission’s actions have regrettably reinforced the growing public perception that it is no longer acting with the impartiality expected of the nation’s electoral umpire,” Ememobong alleged.
He further claimed that the party’s internal crisis is part of a broader attempt to weaken opposition parties and undermine Nigeria’s multi-party democracy.
The latest disagreement has further complicated the PDP’s leadership crisis and could trigger another legal battle over which faction has the authority to nominate candidates for the 2027 general elections.
