Opposition’s failure to meet INEC deadline shows unpreparedness for 2027 — APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the failure of opposition parties to meet the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) deadline for submitting the names of their candidates for the 2027 general elections exposes their lack of preparedness to govern.

The party said this on Sunday via a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, after INEC extended the deadline for the submission of candidates from July 11 to July 14 following requests by opposition parties.

According to the APC, it successfully uploaded the names of all its presidential, vice-presidential, Senate and House of Representatives candidates before the original deadline despite having a larger number of candidates than the opposition.

The ruling party said the extension granted by INEC was within the commission’s powers but argued that it reflected the opposition’s inability to effectively manage its internal affairs.

“The extension was necessitated by the stark failure of opposition parties to manage their internal processes to comply with INEC’s submission deadline despite having fewer candidates to manage compared to the APC,” the statement said.

The APC said the development raised questions about the opposition’s capacity to govern.

“Political parties that cannot efficiently conclude their own internal nomination processes cannot possibly be trusted by Nigerians to possess the competence, discipline, or readiness to govern our great nation or its subnational governments,” the party stated.

The ruling party also accused opposition parties of hypocrisy, noting that they had previously alleged that the APC controlled INEC but later sought the commission’s intervention after missing the submission deadline.