The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has renewed its challenge to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the publication of 10 names as its candidates for various Anambra State House of Assembly constituencies, insisting that the party did not submit the candidates’ details to the Commission.

NDC Director of New Media and Strategic Communications, Agada Abuh Theophilus, made the position known in a statement on Wednesday, days after the party accused INEC of illegally replacing some of its candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.

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The party had earlier alleged that the 10 names published by INEC were unauthorised and did not emerge from its internal nomination process. It maintained that the affected candidates were unknown to the party and that their details were not submitted to the electoral commission.

However, INEC, through the Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, dismissed the allegation, describing claims that the Commission independently uploaded or altered candidate information as “unfounded and untrue.”

Responding to the denial, the NDC insisted that it did not submit the EC9E forms of the 10 candidates published by INEC and challenged the Commission to explain how it obtained the documents.

“The Nigeria Democratic Congress did not submit the EC9E forms of the 10 published Anambra candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

“The Commission should explain to the general public how it obtained the EC9E forms for these 10 candidates when the party did not submit any of them in the first place.

“The process is simple: the party submits, and INEC approves,” Theophilus said.

The NDC spokesperson further claimed that the party had submitted the names of its approved candidates from its appeal process through the INEC portal, but that the Commission rejected those candidates.

He therefore questioned how the names currently published by INEC found their way onto the Commission’s platform, alleging that the candidates’ details were “smuggled” into the portal through the backend.

The party called on INEC to conduct an electronic audit trail of its candidate nomination portal to establish who uploaded the disputed names, when the entries were made and how the accompanying credentials were obtained.

“The party submitted the names of the 10 candidates from the appeal process on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal, but the Commission rejected those approved candidates.

“Since the NDC neither collected nor submitted the completed EC9E forms of the 10 Anambra candidates published by INEC, how did the Commission obtain their credentials when it is the party’s legal duty to submit the names of its approved candidates?” Theophilus asked.

He added: “We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct an electronic audit trail to determine how these 10 candidates were smuggled into its portal through the backend.”

The dispute has introduced another layer of controversy into the preparations for the 2027 general elections, with the NDC demanding transparency from INEC while the electoral commission maintains that it did not independently alter or replace the party’s candidates.