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

The party’s National Chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed, and National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, gave the warning on Monday during a capacity-building and training session for state executives on uploading agents’ details to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) portal.

The training, held at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, was organised to equip state secretaries and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) officers with the skills required to upload details of agents to be deployed to polling units ahead of the elections.

In his opening remarks, Mr Mohammed acknowledged the importance of election agents and canvassers, urging participants to share what they learned during the training with other party members in their respective 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 said.

He noted that the election process was constantly evolving, with electronic systems replacing some manual procedures.

“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 said.

Need for the training

Mr Bature said the training was necessary to equip state secretariats with the skills required to upload agents’ details and avoid technical glitches on 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 said.

He urged participants to ensure that only genuine and committed party members were selected as 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 resolved to submit their party agents’ details to the party by 2 December.

Election dates and roles of party agents

INEC has fixed 16 January 2027 for the presidential and National Assembly elections, while governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections will be held on 6 February 2027.

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

Polling agents play an important role in safeguarding the interests of political parties and their candidates during elections. They are deployed to polling units to observe the voting process, monitor the conduct of electoral officials and ensure that votes are properly counted and recorded.

They may also raise complaints with presiding officers over irregularities, observe the sorting and counting of ballots, and obtain copies of relevant election results and documents, subject to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC’s guidelines.

INEC has introduced an electronic system for nominating and accrediting polling agents, replacing the manual submission of hard-copy lists used in previous elections. Under the new arrangement, political parties are required to submit their agents’ details through the commission’s online portal.

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