Labour Party denies missing INEC candidates’ upload deadline

The Labour Party has vehemently denied allegations that it failed to upload the names of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates before the Independent National Electoral Commission's (INEC) nomination portal closed. The party insists it completed the process four days ahead of the July 14 deadline.

In a statement released in Abuja, the party's National Publicity Secretary, Ken Eluma Asogwa, dismissed the reports as "patently false" and "misleading." He urged party members and supporters to disregard the claims. Asogwa affirmed that the Labour Party successfully uploaded the names of all its duly nominated presidential, vice-presidential, and National Assembly candidates in compliance with INEC's timetable and guidelines.

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The Labour Party wishes to categorically state that it successfully completed the upload of the names of all its duly nominated candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections ahead of the closure of the INEC nomination portal on July 14, 2026. Our attention has been drawn to media reports alleging that the party failed to upload the names of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates before the expiration of the INEC deadline. This claim is patently false, misleading and exists only in the imagination of the purveyors of that fake news. For the avoidance of doubt, the Labour Party successfully uploaded the names of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates on July 10, 2026, four clear days before the close of the INEC nomination window on July 14, 2026. The process was completed seamlessly and in full compliance with the commission’s guidelines.

Asogwa specifically stated that the names of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates were uploaded on July 10, 2026, four days before the INEC nomination window closed. He described the process as seamless and fully compliant with the commission's directives. The party also criticized the media organization that published the report for allegedly failing to verify the information with the party leadership, questioning the professional responsibility and potential ulterior motives behind such reporting.

The Labour Party expressed confidence that INEC's eventual publication of the final list of validly nominated candidates for the 2027 general elections will definitively settle the matter and vindicate the party's position.

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It is disturbing that a media organisation would publish such a weighty and misleading report without making the slightest effort to verify the information with the leadership of the Labour Party, particularly when the story was purportedly sourced from an anonymous INEC official. This raises legitimate questions about the professional responsibility of the media organisation concerned and whether the publication was intended to serve some ulterior political objective rather than the public interest.