2027: We’ll have candidates in all 28 states, deploy agents nationwide — NDC’s Umeh

ABUJA — The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has dismissed claims that it is unprepared for the 2027 general elections, insisting that it has candidates for all 28 governorship positions up for contest.

Senator Victor Umeh, who represents Anambra Central Senatorial District, also disclosed that the opposition party plans to deploy polling agents across every polling unit in Nigeria to safeguard its votes.

Umeh made the disclosure while speaking on Arise TV, describing reports that the NDC lacks governorship candidates in 12 states as political propaganda designed to undermine the party ahead of the 2027 elections.

He said the party had fielded candidates across the 28 states where governorship elections would be held, specifically mentioning Zamfara State, where he said Senator Kabiru Marafa, a former colleague of his in the 8th Senate, is the NDC candidate.

The senator said the party had also produced candidates for the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.

“We have candidates for all the elective positions, 109 senatorial candidates, 360 House of Representatives candidates,” he said.

Umeh maintained that the NDC’s presence at the grassroots was growing, pointing to its increasing membership as evidence of its expanding political structure.

“The party is very entrenched and is amassing membership by the day,” he said.

Asked to provide independent data supporting the party’s popularity across the six geopolitical zones, however, Umeh was unable to immediately present empirical sentiment-analysis figures.

He argued that the absence of such data did not mean the party was unprepared, noting that campaigns only began on August 19. He added that more credible opinion poll results would become available as the campaigns progressed.

On how the party intends to protect its votes, Umeh said the NDC was establishing structures that would enable it to monitor voting and collation at polling units nationwide.

He said the party’s candidates across the country would make it easier to deploy polling agents and monitor the electoral process.

According to Umeh, the party already has a structure involving 13 polling-unit executives, while he is personally working to establish 20 additional coordinators in every polling unit within his senatorial district.

“We are going to be present in every polling unit in Nigeria,” he said.

Umeh said the party had drawn lessons from previous elections, particularly the importance of ensuring that polling-unit results are properly secured.

Recalling his role in the Electoral Act amendment process, he said NDC agents would be prepared to obtain copies of result sheets duly signed by presiding officers.

“You must be able to be in possession of the polling unit results signed by the presiding officers,” he said.

Reacting to the controversy over some candidate names uploaded on the INEC portal in Anambra State, Umeh argued that the authority to submit a party’s candidates ultimately rested with the political party after its internal appeal process.

He alleged that some of the names published by INEC were not submitted through the authorised party process.

The senator said the NDC had formally written to INEC and would pursue legal action if the disputed names were not corrected.

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