The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the presidential nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan submitted by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), insisting that candidates for the 2027 general elections can only be nominated through its designated electronic portal.

The development comes after the Turaki faction claimed it had manually submitted Jonathan’s nomination and the names of its governorship, National Assembly and state assembly candidates to INEC on Friday, further highlighting the deepening leadership crisis within the opposition party.

INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, dismissed the manual submission, stressing that the commission's regulations do not permit nominations outside the approved online platform.

“Submission is only done on a dedicated portal as stipulated by our regulations and guidelines,” she stated.

However, the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, defended the manual submission, arguing that the committee was compelled to adopt the approach after INEC allegedly refused to provide the access codes required for electronic filing.

According to Ememobong, the access codes are merely an administrative tool and not a legal prerequisite under the Electoral Act 2026.

“Notwithstanding INEC’s refusal to provide us with the necessary access codes, we have successfully submitted, manually and in full compliance with the Electoral Act 2026, the list of candidates sponsored by the authentic Peoples Democratic Party,” he said.

He maintained that the submission, which included Jonathan’s presidential nomination and candidates for other elective offices, was acknowledged by INEC despite the ongoing dispute over the party’s legitimate leadership.

Ememobong warned the electoral commission against publishing any candidate list that differs from the one submitted by his faction, vowing to challenge such action through every available constitutional and legal means.

“Should the Commission publish names other than those lawfully submitted by us, we are exhausting every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to ensure that our party is not hijacked or annexed to the ruling party,” he declared.

Explaining the origins of the crisis, Ememobong said the PDP’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and a requisitioned National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting constituted an Interim National Working Committee (NWC) after a Supreme Court ruling allegedly left the party without a legally recognised national leadership.

He claimed INEC ignored formal notifications recognising the interim leadership, forcing the party to seek judicial intervention.

The PDP spokesman also criticised a subsequent Federal High Court judgment, arguing that it attempted to revisit issues already settled by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.

“The judgment reads more like an appeal on the judgment of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. It is clearly inconsistent with the extant decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal that form the foundation of our case,” he said.

He disclosed that the faction had already appealed the ruling and would also challenge what it described as discrepancies between the judgment delivered in court and its Certified True Copy (CTC).

Ememobong further accused INEC of abandoning its constitutional responsibility as an impartial electoral umpire, alleging that the commission withheld critical facts during court proceedings and ignored congresses it had previously monitored.

According to him, the crisis within the PDP reflects a broader effort to weaken opposition parties and pave the way for one-party dominance in Nigeria.

“We were the pioneer target for opposition dismantling and capture, but it has now spread to almost all the opposition parties,” he said.

He called on Nigerians to defend the country's multi-party democracy, warning that continued interference in opposition politics could undermine democratic consolidation, while expressing confidence that his faction would eventually prevail through the courts.