Nigeria — 13 October 2026. The Independent National Electoral Commission has rejected an online publication claiming to be a special announcement about governorship candidates in six states. In its public notice dated 12 October, the commission said the publication did not originate from INEC and asked Nigerians to disregard it.
The warning names Zamfara, Gombe, Delta, Plateau, Yobe and Kano. It concerns the authenticity of a circulating announcement, rather than a blanket declaration that every candidate list for those states is false.
What did INEC clarify? INEC said a circulating publication claiming to be its special announcement about governorship candidates in six states was fake. Readers should disregard that publication and check candidate information through the commission’s official documents and communication channels. The warning does not settle separate disputes over individual nominations.
What the commission rejected
The notice reproduced by Channels Television describes a fraudulent publication circulating online and purporting to address issues affecting governorship candidate lists in the six states.
INEC’s central statement was explicit:
“The publication is FAKE and did not originate from INEC.”
The commission also rejected suggestions that it had issued the purported special announcement. It urged people to stop sharing the publication and rely on information distributed through its verified channels.
That is a warning about the document’s claimed origin. An INEC logo, formal-looking layout or reference to actual candidate disputes cannot establish that a message came from the commission.
Genuine lists and a fabricated announcement are different
ELECTIONS MONITORING
INEC Rejects Fake Six-State Candidate Notice: What Voters Should Check
Oct 13, 2026
Oct 13, 2026
5 min read
Published
Updated:
Nigeria — 13 October 2026. The Independent National Electoral Commission has rejected an online publication claiming to be a special announcement about governorship candidates in six states. In its public notice dated 12 October, the commission said the publication did not originate from INEC and asked Nigerians to disregard it.
The warning names Zamfara, Gombe, Delta, Plateau, Yobe and Kano. It concerns the authenticity of a circulating announcement, rather than a blanket declaration that every candidate list for those states is false.
What did INEC clarify? INEC said a circulating publication claiming to be its special announcement about governorship candidates in six states was fake. Readers should disregard that publication and check candidate information through the commission’s official documents and communication channels. The warning does not settle separate disputes over individual nominations.
What the commission rejected
The notice reproduced by Channels Television describes a fraudulent publication circulating online and purporting to address issues affecting governorship candidate lists in the six states.
INEC’s central statement was explicit:
“The publication is FAKE and did not originate from INEC.”
The commission also rejected suggestions that it had issued the purported special announcement. It urged people to stop sharing the publication and rely on information distributed through its verified channels.
That is a warning about the document’s claimed origin. An INEC logo, formal-looking layout or reference to actual candidate disputes cannot establish that a message came from the commission.
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Genuine lists and a fabricated announcement are different
INEC’s official press and statutory-notice index contains state-specific pages labelled as final governorship candidate lists. These include pages for the six states named in the warning.
The existence of those documents does not authenticate a separate message presented as an INEC update. A candidate-list page and a purported special announcement are different publications and need to be checked individually.
Fact Check Africa’s review makes the same distinction: official lists exist, but they do not validate the circulating announcement disowned by INEC.
Readers should therefore avoid two opposite mistakes. One is accepting a fabricated update because genuine lists exist. The other is assuming that the rejection means all candidate information published by INEC is invalid.
What this means for nomination disputes
Punch’s account of the warning places it alongside reporting about omissions from published candidate lists. That wider controversy helps explain the setting, but it should not change the scope of the commission’s notice.
Rejecting a false announcement does not explain why any particular name appears or is absent. It also does not, on its own, confirm that a candidate has been restored, removed or cleared.
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Any such claim needs the relevant official document or a separately reported decision. A party statement, objection or court filing should be identified as that specific step, rather than described as a completed change to a ballot.
This distinction is useful for voters following competing claims about the same constituency or state. The authenticity of a document and the status of a nomination are related questions, but they are not interchangeable answers.
How to check a candidate announcement
Start from INEC’s official website rather than a link embedded in a forwarded screenshot. Locate the relevant state and election, then compare the announcement with the document or notice published there.
Check the document’s subject as carefully as its date. A notice about voter registration, an older by-election or another state does not answer a question about the current governorship candidate list.
For social-media updates, INEC identifies @inecnigeria as its X and Instagram handle and INEC Nigeria as its Facebook page. Check that a post comes from the stated account; a copied image or quotation alone is not the original publication.
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Before forwarding a claimed update, ask:
Does it appear on an official INEC channel?
Does it concern the correct state and election?
Is it an original notice or someone’s description of a notice?
Does its wording actually support the claim being made about a candidate?
If the answer remains unclear, hold the message and seek clarification rather than supplying missing details from another forwarded post.
Where to request clarification
The INEC Citizens Contact Centre accepts enquiries and complaints. Its official contact page lists shortcode 4632, 0700-CALL-INEC and the email address iccc@inec.gov.ng.
When making an enquiry, identify the state, election and specific publication. Providing the document or post in question is more useful than asking whether a broad rumour is true.
Candidate verification is separate from voter-card collection. Readers seeking collection instructions can consult XTRAfrica’s Nigeria PVC collection guide, then confirm current arrangements with INEC.
The next meaningful update would be an authentic commission notice or another identifiable decision concerning the disputed nominations. Until then, INEC’s instruction is to disregard the publication it disowned and obtain election information through its official channels.
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