• Hashim, MCE fault presidential candidate list
• INEC: Candidates cannot be dropped without party request, court order
• NNPP investigates Dikwa’s omission, orders silence on controversy
• ‘Obi-Makinde alliance faces ambition, zoning, structure, trust hurdles’
• ADC confident of beating APC if 2027 polls are free, fair
• Think tank challenges opposition to match Tinubu’s $1tr economic target

The publication of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) final candidate list has triggered fresh disputes over who gets on the 2027 ballot, with omitted candidates and rival party factions turning to courts and demanding explanations from the commission.

The presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, yesterday insisted that no administrative action could remove him from the 2027 presidential ballot.

Also reacting to the list, Convener of the Movement for Credible Election (MCE), Wale Okunniyi, criticised INEC for recognising the faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike

He alleged that the decision was predetermined by INEC, the ruling party and the courts.

He also disagreed with INEC over the published list of PDP presidential candidates, which favours a particular faction of the PDP.

Okunniyi described the development as a denial of voters’ right to a free choice of candidates, particularly as Wike had indicated his support for the incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Similarly, a fresh crisis has engulfed the Agbo Major-led New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) following the omission of its presidential candidate, Suleiman Mohammed Dikwa, from the final list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission yesterday.

Dikwa, who had secured the party’s unanimous nomination and whose name was published on INEC’s provisional register, was absent from the final publication, triggering confusion and anger among party members and delegates.

The development has also prompted grassroots members and party delegates to demand an explanation from the national leadership over the circumstances surrounding the candidate’s disappearance from the list.

However, the party hierarchy has reportedly directed its members to refrain from speaking publicly on the matter.

Speaking to The Guardian, Chairman of the NNPP State Chairmen’s Forum, Mamman Damisa, confirmed that internal investigations were ongoing but said state leaders had been instructed not to escalate the matter publicly.

“Investigations are ongoing, and I have been directed to keep mute until this issue is resolved,” Damisa said.

Asked whether the party leadership had deliberately initiated Dikwa’s withdrawal, he said: “I cannot say yet, but I have been directed not to grant any interviews.”

A senior INEC official in Abuja, meanwhile, clarified the procedure governing the omission or replacement of candidates, saying the commission could not unilaterally remove a validly nominated candidate.

“INEC cannot remove the name of a candidate without an official request for replacement submitted by the party or an explicit order from a court of competent jurisdiction,” the official said.

The clarification has raised questions over whether the omission followed an internal party request or a legal development involving the candidate.

Efforts to reach Dikwa for comment were unsuccessful, as his telephone lines remained unreachable and messages sent to him went unanswered.

Meanwhile, a former Rivers State lawmaker, Bernard Mikko, now of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has said parties that failed to field National Assembly candidates in several parts of the country had demonstrated their organisational weakness.

Mikko described such parties as “mere jokers”, arguing that the inability to field candidates across constituencies exposed the extent of their lack of political structure.

Hashim, whose name was omitted from INEC’s final list of presidential candidates, said the matter remained subject to judicial determination, insisting that he was the duly nominated presidential candidate of the Accord Party.

In a statement, he said: “I am the candidate of the Accord Party. No one can exclude me from the 2027 presidential election. The court will do justice.”

Hashim argued that the Constitution did not confer on INEC overriding powers to determine with finality disputes over the emergence or exclusion of candidates.

He said the courts had jurisdiction to determine such disputes and prevent administrative decisions from becoming instruments for denying legitimate political rights.

“Our democracy does not give INEC any right of finality over who stands as the candidate of a political party. Where there is a dispute over the emergence or exclusion of a candidate, the adjudicatory functions of the courts are provided precisely to prevent impunity and to ensure that no administrative process becomes a pre-planned mechanism for keeping particular candidates off the ballot,” he said.

Hashim has already approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking, among other reliefs, an order compelling the Accord Party to recognise him as its presidential candidate and transmit his name to INEC. The case has been heard and judgment reserved.

His case is based on his contention that he emerged as the sole winner of Accord’s presidential primary conducted on May 30, 2026, after paying the prescribed nomination fee, with the exercise monitored by INEC officials.

He therefore argued: “The publication by INEC is not the final determination of my candidacy. There is a subsisting legal dispute before the court, and I have confidence in the judicial process.

“I emerged from the presidential primary as the candidate. I have done what the law requires, and I believe the court will uphold the law.

“No individual or administrative action can take away a right that has been lawfully acquired. I remain the presidential candidate of Accord, and we will see this process through to its lawful conclusion.”

Presidential aide: Obi-Makinde alliance faces four major hurdles
THE emerging rapprochement between former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, may yet evolve into a broader opposition alliance ahead of the 2027 presidential election, but four major obstacles could frustrate the move, a Presidential aide, Tunde Rahman, has said.

Rahman, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Special Duties, identified personal ambition, zoning, political structure and trust deficit as the critical hurdles that opposition leaders must overcome if they are to forge a credible coalition against the President.

His assessment followed renewed speculation about an opposition realignment after Obi and Makinde, who were on opposing political trajectories during the 2023 election, recently met privately in Ibadan and subsequently appeared together at public events.

The most striking of the appearances was Obi’s presence at the inauguration of Makinde’s Allied People’s Movement (APM) Presidential Campaign Office in Abuja last Monday.

Makinde is seeking the presidency on the APM platform, while Obi retains a substantial support base through the “Obidient” movement and has not ruled out another presidential bid.

Rahman described Obi’s appearance at the campaign office of another presidential aspirant as unusual, saying it had naturally heightened speculation about a possible political understanding between the two men.

He said, however, that the development should be regarded as “a signal, not yet a coalition.”

Sources close to both camps have indicated that their discussions centred on “national interest, governance and 2027 permutations,” against the backdrop of renewed efforts by opposition stakeholders under the G-100 to build a united front for the election.

According to Rahman, the first and most difficult hurdle is the competing presidential ambitions of the leading opposition figures.

“Obi, Atiku and now possibly Makinde all have presidential ambitions. Who steps down for whom? Who gets the vice-president’s slot?” he asked.

Rahman said zoning could pose an equally serious challenge.

While political interests in the South are expected to argue that the region should retain the presidency for another four-year term after former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office, northern political forces are unlikely to accept indefinite exclusion from the presidency.

Rahman also identified political structure as a major advantage currently enjoyed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The party, he said, controls 31 states and has a formidable nationwide grassroots network, giving President Tinubu a substantial organisational advantage going into 2027.

He also noted that some governors outside the APC have expressed support for Tinubu’s re-election.

While acknowledging that elections are ultimately decided by voters, he said the political influence of governors could not be discounted.

“Governors do not vote for the people, but their influence on political structures and mobilisation cannot be wished away,” he said.

The fourth hurdle, according to Rahman, is trust.

He questioned whether political structures that fought bitterly against one another in the 2023 election could quickly integrate into a disciplined nationwide opposition machinery.

“The issue is not just getting the leaders to shake hands. Can their party structures at the state and grassroots levels actually work together?” he asked.

Rahman also challenged the opposition’s emerging electoral arithmetic, which is based on the argument that President Tinubu won the 2023 election with 37 per cent of the vote and could therefore be defeated if the votes previously secured by Atiku Abubakar, Obi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Makinde and other opposition figures were consolidated.

He cautioned, however, that votes secured by different candidates in one election could not automatically be added together in another.

Whether the emerging consultations develop into a genuine political threat, he said, will depend on the willingness of Obi, Makinde, Atiku and other opposition figures to place collective strategy above individual presidential ambitions.

“For now, President Tinubu is the favourite,” Rahman said. “But for the first time since 2023, the APC may now have something to worry about.”

ADC confident of defeating APC in free, fair election
THE African Democratic Congress (ADC) expressed confidence that it will defeat the All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections if the polls are free and fair.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this during an interview on Symfoni TV while responding to questions on whether the ADC could defeat the APC in the election.

Abdullahi said the party had no doubt it would win a free and fair election but expressed concern over the possibility of electoral manipulation.

“In a free and fair election, we have no doubt in our minds that we will win this election. The challenge is, will there be a free and fair election?

“We are ready for that. We are ready for anything. We are dealing with these APC people; you have to be ready for anything because we know that they will want to steal the election.

“We will police our votes. We know the things that we will do. We won’t tell you, but we are ready for them because we know that if you dine with the devil, you have to have a long spoon,” he said.

Think tank challenges opposition to match Tinubu’s $1tr economic target
RELATEDLY, a prominent Nigerian policy think tank, the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI), has challenged opposition presidential candidates to present Nigerians with a credible and realistic economic blueprint capable of growing the country’s economy to $1 trillion within four years.

The group said such a commitment would provide a more meaningful basis for political campaigns ahead of the January 16, 2027 presidential election than mudslinging, personal attacks and the exploitation of public frustration over current economic challenges.

It said the administration of President Bola Tinubu had already set the country on the path towards its medium-term $1 trillion economic target, challenging opposition candidates to demonstrate how they intend to surpass that trajectory.

In a policy brief signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, IMPI said presidential candidates should focus their campaigns on economic policies that could be subjected to measurable and verifiable tests rather than resorting to populist rhetoric.

The think tank said: “In this light, we challenge the larger political class, especially presidential candidates, to headline their manifestos with a commitment to growing Nigeria’s economy to $1 trillion over the next four years.

“This is the only logical path forward for Nigeria. It ensures that any candidate who wins the 2027 presidential election will move the country past the era of managing scarcity and distributing handouts.

“Indeed, a $1 trillion economy creates a massive wave of national production that lifts all boats, converting Nigeria’s demographic bulge from a poverty liability into Africa’s greatest economic asset.

“We make this declaration in the knowledge and belief that the path to a $1 trillion economy is not built on wishful thinking. It is built on hard, cold, calculated sectoral milestones.”