August 1, 2026
ABUJA, Nigeria — The Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of attempting to undermine the party by refusing to recognise its interim leadership and allegedly working to replace its presidential candidate, former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The allegations were contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the National Publicity Secretary of the party’s Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong.
According to the PDP faction, its interim leadership was constituted by the party’s Board of Trustees and a member-requisitioned National Executive Committee following a Supreme Court judgment, but it claims INEC has declined to recognise the arrangement despite being formally notified.
The party said it has appealed a Federal High Court judgment that refused to compel INEC to recognise the interim leadership, arguing that the ruling conflicts with previous decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.
The faction further alleged that INEC has failed to maintain neutrality in handling internal party matters and warned against publishing the names of candidates submitted by rival party officials.
Ememobong also claimed that although the party was denied access to the electronic submission portal, it manually submitted its list of candidates to INEC in compliance with the Electoral Act 2026.
According to the statement, the submitted list includes former President Goodluck Jonathan as the PDP’s presidential candidate, alongside governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly candidates.
The party maintained that any publication of a different list of candidates by INEC would raise concerns about the commission’s impartiality and vowed to continue pursuing legal remedies.
The Turaki-led PDP faction also warned that actions capable of weakening opposition parties could undermine Nigeria’s multi-party democracy and public confidence in the electoral process ahead of the 2027 general elections.
As of the time of filing this report, INEC had not publicly responded to the allegations made by the PDP faction.
Reporting by SUNTV Global Channel.
