The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for political parties to submit the lists of their candidates for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for February 2027.
The commission announced that the submission deadline, which was originally fixed for Saturday, August 8, 2026, has now been moved to Tuesday, August 11, 2026.
National Commissioner and Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, disclosed this in a statement issued on Saturday night.
According to Haruna, the extension followed appeals from political parties seeking additional time to complete the submission of their candidates through the commission’s dedicated portal.
He said, “The commission has approved an extension of the deadline for the submission of the list of candidates for the governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.”
Haruna explained that the extension was in response to requests by political parties and was in line with the commission’s efforts to ensure that all eligible parties were given adequate opportunity to complete the process.
In a related development, INEC announced that voters who applied for the replacement of lost, damaged or defaced Permanent Voter Cards would have until midnight on Sunday, August 9, 2026, to print downloadable copies of their replacement cards.
The commission said the extension was necessary to enable it to compile data on downloaded PVCs ahead of the final statistics for the August 15, 2026, Osun State governorship election.
The collection of PVCs in Osun State had commenced at the Registration Area level from July 22 to 28, 2026. However, following complaints over large crowds and difficulties encountered by voters at some collection centres, INEC extended the exercise at the Registration Area level to July 31.
The exercise subsequently moved to the local government level and ran from August 1 to 7, 2026.
INEC also disclosed that replacement downloadable PVCs had been made available to voters in Odo-Otin and Ife Central Local Government Areas following the theft of cards during attacks on two collection centres.
The commission stressed that the stolen PVCs could not be used to vote.
INEC further reassured residents of Osun State of its preparedness to conduct a free, fair, credible and inclusive governorship election on August 15.
