The Independent National Electoral Commission will on Saturday, August 29, publish the names of candidates nominated by political parties for the 2027 governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
The publication is part of INEC’s preparations for the February 6, 2027 elections and is expected to allow political parties, candidates and members of the public to scrutinise and verify the information submitted to the commission.
Governorship elections will be conducted in 28 states, while state assembly elections will take place across all 36 states.
The states scheduled to hold governorship elections include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Kwara, Benue, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi and Sokoto.
Eight states—Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, Edo, Bayelsa, Anambra, Imo and Kogi—will not participate in the governorship election because they operate on different electoral cycles.
INEC’s timetable means political parties now face a tight schedule to conclude their nomination and substitution processes.
The commission has also set August 29 as the deadline for political parties contesting the presidential and National Assembly elections to submit their final lists of candidates.
The deadline follows the August 22 cutoff for candidates seeking to withdraw from the 2027 elections. Under the Electoral Act 2026, candidates who wish to withdraw are required to submit written notices, accompanied by affidavits, to the political parties that nominated them.
The final list of candidates for the presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections is expected to be published by INEC on September 12.
With the statutory deadlines approaching, political parties are expected to complete outstanding changes to their candidate lists and resolve any nomination issues before INEC publishes the final details.
The publication of the state-level candidates will mark another significant step towards the 2027 elections, as parties move from the nomination stage into a broader campaign and mobilization phase.
The February 2027 polls will be a major test for Nigeria’s electoral system, with political parties competing for control of state governments and legislative seats across the country.
