Nigeria’s 2027 presidential contest will feature 18 candidates, but only two women have made the final list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They are Dr. Esther Nkem Okereke, 43, of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), and Hon. Ada Elizabeth Frederick Okwori, 48, of the National Democratic Party (NDP).

Together, they account for 11.1 per cent of the presidential field, placing their candidacies against a political landscape in which men continue to dominate the race for Nigeria’s highest elected office. INEC’s final list, published in September, confirms both women alongside their male running mates.
For Guardian Woman, their presence is significant not simply because they are women, but because each has arrived at the presidential race through a different political journey.

Esther Nkem Okereke: From Nollywood to the Presidential Race
At 43, Okereke is one of the younger candidates on the 2027 presidential list. She secured the National Rescue Movement’s ticket at the party’s national convention in Abuja in May 2026, emerging ahead of other aspirants.
Known publicly as an actress and filmmaker, Okereke has also been involved in entrepreneurship and humanitarian initiatives. Recent profiles of her political journey describe her work supporting vulnerable groups and her argument that her experiences outside politics informed her decision to seek political office.
Her move into politics represents a shift from entertainment and humanitarian work to a bid for Nigeria’s highest political office.

At her emergence as the NRM candidate, Okereke described her candidacy as a call to national service. Her political platform, branded the ESTHER Agenda, focuses on issues including education, security, technology, housing, entrepreneurship and restitution.

The NRM has also positioned her candidacy around a broader national rescue agenda, with emphasis on insecurity, economic hardship, education, electricity, healthcare, housing, job creation and accountability.
Okereke is running with 35-year-old Sulaiman Nasir Muhammed, making their ticket one of the younger presidential pairings in the 2027 race. INEC lists Okereke’s qualifications as the First School Leaving Certificate, Senior Secondary School Certificate, BSc, MSc and PhD, while Muhammed is listed with the First School Leaving Certificate and Senior Secondary School Certificate.

Okereke has also made women and young people part of her political message, calling for greater participation in the democratic process.

Ada Elizabeth Frederick Okwori: Building a Party, Then Seeking the Presidency
At 48, Ada Elizabeth Frederick Okwori enters the 2027 race from a different route.
She is the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, a relatively new political platform that obtained registration following a legal battle with INEC.

Okwori, who is identified by INEC as the NDP’s national chairman, was among the party promoters who challenged INEC’s earlier refusal to register the political association. In February 2026, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered INEC to register the party, ruling that its promoters had met the constitutional and statutory requirements for registration. INEC subsequently listed the NDP as a recognised political party, with Okwori as national chairman by court order.

The NDP’s own account identifies Okwori as its founder and chief promoter and says the party was formally registered in March 2026 following the court ruling.
Her emergence therefore places party-building at the centre of her political story.
Okwori is contesting alongside Chukwuemeka Uchenna Anthony, also 48, as her vice-presidential candidate. INEC lists her qualifications as the First School Leaving Certificate, Senior Secondary School Certificate and Higher National Diploma in Accountancy.

The NDP says its platform is built around accountable leadership, inclusion, national development and putting citizens at the centre of governance. The party has also identified women’s participation as part of its political agenda.

A wider gender question
The significance of Okereke and Okwori’s candidacies extends beyond the presidential ballot.
INEC’s final list contains 18 presidential candidates, of whom only two are women. At the vice-presidential level, four women are listed among the 18 running mates: Peace Egobia Ofordile of the Allied Peoples Party, Nafisat Usaku Abubakar of the Democratic Labour Alliance, Hajja Bintu Konto of the Labour Party and Patience Ndidi Key of the Young Progressive Party.

The numbers become similarly stark at the National Assembly level. Of the 4,408 candidates contesting Senate and House of Representatives seats in 2027, 443 are women — 115 Senate candidates and 328 House candidates.
The two presidential candidates therefore enter a race in which women remain a minority across the political field.
Their candidacies also come at a time when conversations around women’s political participation, representation and access to decision-making spaces remain prominent in Nigeria.

For Okereke and Okwori, the 2027 election will provide a national platform for their respective political visions. For the wider political system, their presence adds another chapter to the continuing question of how many Nigerian women can move from participating in politics to occupying the highest levels of political power.