PDP Warns State Executives on Polling Agents for 2027 Elections

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned its executives at the state, local government, and ward levels against using non-party members as agents for the 2027 general elections.

The party’s National Chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed, and National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, made this known on Monday during a training session for state executives on how to upload agents’ details to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.

The training took place at the party’s secretariat in Abuja. It aimed to help state secretaries and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) officers learn how to upload details of agents who will work at polling units during the elections.

In his opening speech, Mr Mohammed talked about the importance of election agents and canvassers. He urged those present to share what they learned with other party members in their states.

"The importance of elections today starts from the polling units where we rely on our agents and canvassers across the polling units. So, I want to appeal to our members who are here this afternoon for this training: please be focused because this training is very important," he stated.

He pointed out that the election process is always changing, with more electronic systems replacing some manual methods.

"I know some of you who are here are used to the election process, but you know the election process keeps changing. Today, we have upgraded from the manual system to the electronic system, and especially in this coming election, there are many developments related to the election."

"So, I want all of you to be focused and get back to our various states to give the same training to our people so that it can be extended to our various local governments," he added.

Mr Bature emphasized the necessity of the training. He said it was essential for state secretariats to learn how to upload agents’ details to avoid problems with the INEC portal.

"Uploading of agents is very important in the election process today. We just finished the battle with INEC over uploading of candidates, and you can see, INEC is doing whatever they want to do, particularly after that Supreme Court judgement. So we don’t want also to have the same challenges with agents," he explained.

He encouraged participants to ensure that only genuine and committed party members become agents.

"I crave your indulgence to get the best hands because we have issues when the election is coming. People become agents, and at the end of the day, they are also double agents, and we get our candidate stranded at some point."

"So I think it’s important that you vet these candidates before you put them as agents. There are so many committed party members, but you don’t patronise them. Sometimes, they become a bit disgruntled. Please, please, please patronise those who are dedicated to this party. Many people are out there dedicated to this party. Please fish them out and select them as agents. The importance of timely submission of this list is very important to all of us," he said.

At the end of the training, state secretaries agreed to submit their party agents’ details to the party by 2 December.

INEC has set 16 January 2027 for the presidential and National Assembly elections. The governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will take place on 6 February 2027.

The commission has also opened its online portal for political parties to submit details of their polling agents ahead of the elections. The deadline for submission is 10 December 2026, at 11:59 p.m.

Polling agents are crucial in protecting the interests of political parties and their candidates during elections. They work at polling units to monitor the voting process, watch how electoral officials behave, and ensure that votes are counted correctly.

They can also raise issues with presiding officers about irregularities, observe the sorting and counting of ballots, and obtain copies of relevant election results and documents, following the Electoral Act and INEC’s guidelines.

INEC has introduced an electronic system for nominating and accrediting polling agents, replacing the old method of submitting hard-copy lists used in past elections. Now, political parties must submit their agents’ details through the online portal.

The portal requires each nominated agent’s full name, telephone number, gender, assigned polling unit, a passport photograph, and an acceptable ID like a voter’s card, National Identification Number, or driver’s licence. The commission will also check for duplicate nominations across polling units and political parties.