General Elections: INEC releases lists of 18 presidential, 4,223 NASS candidates

The list of Presidential and National Assembly candidates has been released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Barrister Festus Okoye, National Commissioner chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, confirmed this in a statement on Tuesday.
“At its regular weekly meeting held today, Tuesday 20th September 2022, the Commission approved the final list of candidates for national elections (Presidential, Senatorial, and Federal Constituencies) pursuant to section 32(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and item 8 of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election,” according to the statement.
The publication of the full names and addresses of all nominated candidates follows the political parties’ conduct of primaries and completion of the nomination exercise. Nigerians may recall that at end of the process, the personal particulars of all nominated candidates were displayed in their constituencies nationwide as provided by section 29(3) of the Electoral Act.

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Following that, validly nominated candidates had the option to voluntarily withdraw their candidacy by giving written notice to the political party that nominated them for the election. Following that, political parties substituted such candidates under Section 31 of the Electoral Act, the deadline for which was July 15th, 2022 for national elections and August 12th, 2022 for state elections, as clearly stated in item 6 of the Commission’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities. Following that, no withdrawal or substitution of candidates is permitted, except in the case of death, as provided in section 34(1) of the Electoral Act, or by order of a Court of competent jurisdiction.
The list published today includes the names of candidates who were validly nominated for national elections at the conclusion of party primaries and the period set aside for candidate withdrawal and substitution. As previously stated in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the 2023 General Election, the final list of candidates for State elections (Governorship and State Constituencies) will be published on October 4, 2022.
We note that not all political parties held primaries in all constituencies, submitted the names of candidates who emerged from valid primaries, or substituted their candidates after fresh primaries within 14 days, as required by Section 33 of the Electoral Act. This has resulted in numerous lawsuits, some of which are still ongoing.
Where the Commission was served with Court orders by aggrieved aspirants or candidates before the publication of this list, these have been indicated under the remark column.
In summary, all 18 political parties have candidates and running mates for the Presidential election. For legislative elections, there are 1,101 candidates vying for 109 Senatorial seats and 3,122 candidates vying for Federal Constituencies, i.e. House of Representatives seats, for a total of 4,223 candidates vying for 469 legislative positions. In terms of gender distribution, there are 3,875 male candidates, including 35 for President and Vice President, 1,008 for the Senate, and 2,832 for the House of Representatives. Similarly, 381 women are running for office, including one for President, 92 for the Senate, and 288 for the House of Representatives. The race also includes 11 people with disabilities (PWDs).
Specific constituency lists are published in each state where they are located, while the comprehensive nationwide list is available on the Commission’s website.

We urge all political parties to submit any observations on the list of candidates to the Commission, which must be signed by the political party’s National Chairman and Secretary and supported by an affidavit, as provided in section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2022.

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