Campaigns for the January 16 Presidential election officially kick off tomorrow in line with the guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

A recent survey by The Nation indicated that leading political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) – are not ready yet to go on the stump, nor are smaller parties.

Campaigns into National Assembly offices will also open tomorrow. The elections will be held on the same day as the presidential poll.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (APC) is being challenged by Peter Obi (NDC), Atiku Abubakar (ADC) and 16 others.

“We are not ready to be on the move for five months. It is expensive, energy-sapping and laborious,” a top official of one of the top parties said last night.

So far, none of the parties has set up campaign committees or released schedules of activities for the campaigns.

The campaign for the presidential and National Assembly elections is the sixth item on the timetable and schedule of activities released by the Commission.

It is in line with the provisions of Section 98(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which provides that campaigns by every political party shall commence 150 days before polling day and end 24 hours before that day.

Campaigns for governorship and Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for February 6 next year would kick off on September 9.

The parties have up to August 22 to substitute any of their candidates that withdraw from the contest in line with Section 31 of the Electoral Act.

According to INEC, the parties have till August 29 to submit candidates’ nomination forms (Form 13A to E) in accordance with Section 30 (1).

The final list of nominated candidates is expected to be published by the Commission on September 12 in accordance with Section 32(1), which provides for the publication, at least, 60 days before the election.

A member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of a major opposition party, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said party leaders are not in a hurry to begin campaigns.

He said: “We have a five-month window. The party leaders are planning a meeting for the end of the month to discuss the campaign plan.”

A governorship candidate on the platform of the APC, who said campaigns require planning, said the long period allotted to campaigns can induce stress.

He said: “Five months for campaigns? It will overstretch us.”

APC will unveil plan, says Morka

APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told reporters that plans are underway to unveil a detailed, nationwide campaign programme later in the month.

He clarified that while the August 19 date marks the legal commencement of the campaign window, it is not a mandatory requirement for parties to launch rallies immediately.

Morka stressed: “August 19 is the date fixed by INEC for all parties to start the presidential and National Assembly campaign.

“There is no law that we must start on that day. The only thing is, no political party is permitted to start ahead of the day.”

Morka, who spoke with reporters after the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting yesterday at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, said the ruling party is deliberately structuring its strategy before hitting the podium.

He said APC would consult and plan well before embarking on the campaign journey.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Abdulrahman Mohammed told a delegation from the International Republican Institute that the party is ready for the polls.

He said: “We are PDP, and we belong to the people of Nigeria, and our yearning and aspiration is to give responsible leadership to the electorate.

“That is why, for over 20-something years, the party remained democratic, and is in all the 36 states, FCT and 774 local governments of Nigeria. I want to assure you that the PDP is fully ready for the election.”

LP to campaign on NLC, TUC platforms

The Labour Party (LP) said it would leverage its relationship with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to mobilise voters and strengthen its grassroots campaigns.

National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, said the party is prepared to face the electorate, adding that it has developed “a formidable organisational structure, an energised membership base, and a credible presidential candidate.”

He also described the party’s governorship and House of Assembly candidates as people of integrity and acceptability, adding that their credibility would attract votes.

Asogwa said the LP’s advantage lies in its institutional relationship with organised labour.

He added: “As we have consistently maintained, the Labour Party is today the most structured political party in Nigeria.

“The Party is unique among all political parties because the NLC and the TUC are its institutional members. There is hardly any polling unit, ward, local government or community in Nigeria that does not have a serving or retired civil servant.

“No other political party, including the APC, can genuinely boast of such an extensive nationwide structure.

“We never harnessed this potential in the past, but today the present leadership of the Party has gone to marry the Labour Unions in a manner never seen before,” he said.

He said the party would now deploy the strength of the labour unions and its grassroots network to sell its candidates and policies to Nigerians.

Asogwa expressed optimism that the electoral body would publish the names of LP governorship and House of Assembly candidates.

He said the party had complied with INEC’s deadline by uploading the names of its candidates before the closure of the submission window.

Asogwa added: “We are hopeful that all our candidates for governorship and state Houses of Assembly will be published by the electoral body, just as they did with our Presidential and National Assembly candidates.

“Gladly, we were able to beat the deadline set by the Commission by ensuring all our candidates’ names were uploaded before the closure of the window.”

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, was on Sunday declared elected, having won 19 out of the 30 local government areas in the governorship election held across the state on Saturday.

The State Returning Officer, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Prof Joshua Ogunwole, declared the result of the poll at about 7:24 am on Sunday.

Adeleke polled a total of 511067 votes to emerge victorious in the contest.

Ogunwole subsequently returned the governor to office for another term.

The incumbent Osun governor, who contested the poll on the platform of the Accord, defeated his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress, who won in 11 LG areas of the state.

While Adeleke won in Ede North, Ede South, Ejigbo, Iwo, Egbedore, Ife North, Ife East, Ife Central, Oriade, Ifelodun, Orolu, Ayedaade, Ayedire, Odo Otin, Boluwaduro, Ilesa West, Ifedayo, Osogbo and Ayedire local government areas.

Oyebamiji, however, won in Irewole, Isokan, Olorunda, Atakumosa East, Atakumosa West, Ilesa East, Boripe, Irepodun and Obokun local government areas.

Declaring the results, Ogunwole said, “Accredited voters, 1010684, total votes received by political parties, A, 511067, AA, 2308, AAC, 1458, ADC, 17180, ADP, 2946, APC, 444815, APGA, 1475, APM, 234, APP, 114, BP, 111, NNPP, 118, PRP, 83, SDP, 155, YPP, 534, ZLP, 2482, total valid votes, 985079, rejected votes, 207, total vote cast, 1,005,800.”

After agents of the political parties have signed the results of the election, the Returning Officer declared Adeleke of the Accord as the winner of the poll.

“That Ademola Nurudeen-Jackson Adeleke, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner of the August 15 Governorship election and returned elected,” Ogunwole said.

The candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the poll, Najeem Salaam, came third in the poll.

The Nigeria Police Force on Thursday said as many as 30 Commissioners of Police would be on duty during the Osun State governorship election, which holds across the state on Saturday.

This was disclosed by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Anietie Iniedu, while addressing journalists in Osogbo, Osun State, on Friday on the police preparations for the governorship poll.

Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Alliance and the African Democratic Congress candidate Najeem Salaam lead the race for the state’s top job.

Iniedu, who said the police commenced the deployment of its personnel three weeks before the poll, said a Deputy Inspector-General of Police would coordinate security activities during the poll.

According to him, over 15,000 police operatives would be on duty during the poll, noting that a police helicopter and drone unit had arrived in the state to conduct area surveillance.

He further said two units of the Mobile Police Force, each comprising over 60 personnel, had been deployed to the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Osogbo, the state capital.

Similarly, he said each Local Government Area in the state would have a unit of the Police Mobile Force.

“We have deployed armed mobile policemen to every local government area in the state. So, we have 30 units across 30 local government areas. A unit is about 60 policemen.

“We also have two units of armed mobile policemen attached to the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters in Osogbo here. The men who stay at the local government areas are being coordinated by a Commissioner of Police. There is a Commissioner of Police in each Local Government Area.

“We also have a Deputy Commissioner of Police in each Local Government Area, as well as a Mobile Police Commander and a PMF commander with the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police in each Local Government Area.

“As of today (Thursday), our helicopters and drone units have arrived in Osogbo, and they will be conducting area surveillance from now, during and immediately after the elections.”

The Force PRO also said the Army would cordon off all the border roads leading into Osun State from 12am on Saturday.

“We will be locking down the state. We will not be allowing any vehicular movement apart from those on essential duty, security duties and those going to cast their franchise,” he said.

He advised parents to warn their children against electoral offences, including intimidation, stalking, vote-buying and ballot-box snatching.

He said a mobile court would be in place to try anyone arrested for involvement in electoral offences.

Asked about the details of the weapons the police had recovered from hoodlums in the state, Iniedu said, “We don’t have specific details about the guns we have mopped up, but I know that in Osun State, so far, we have mopped up about 34 illegal firearms, and investigations are ongoing.”

Several police operatives deployed for Saturday’s governorship poll were observed at the State Police Headquarters, moving to their various areas of operation.

Vote-buying claims

Meanwhile, many residents of Osogbo said they received cash from those who claimed to be canvassers of political parties in the state to get their support.

Traders at Oja Ojude Oga, Ota Efun, Igbona and Alekuwodo markets in Osogbo told our correspondents on Thursday that they received a sum of N10,000 each from canvassers of parties fielding candidates in the poll.

A trader who got the money said the canvassers had earlier sought their cooperation and assurances that they would vote for their candidates.

“They met us earlier and demanded assurances that we would vote for their candidates. Last week, we got N15,000, but on Wednesday, they returned to us and distributed another N10,000.

“They promised us more on Election Day if we vote. But some people refused to take the money. They brought cash,” he said.

Another resident, identified simply as Silifat, who resides in Alekuwodo, Osogbo, said residents of the area also got cash from representatives of political parties.

She said, “We also got money in Alekuwodo. Representatives of some parties approached us with cash, and we collected it. They didn’t request our PVCs but begged us to vote for their candidates.”

When asked if his party was engaging in vote-buying, the spokesperson for the Osun APC, Kola Olabisi, said the party was not involved in such an act.

“Vote-buying? Our party does not need to do that before we win. It is a popular party with a strong candidate. We are not involved; ask those in the other parties,” Olabisi said.

Efforts to reach Oladele Bamiji, the spokesperson for the Accord Party, for comments failed as calls did not go through to his mobile line, while a response to a message sent to him was still being awaited as of the time of filing this report.