2027: “Michael Enyong Is Not a Guber Candidate, NDC Has None in Akwa Ibom State” – INEC

Fresh findings on the 2027 Akwa Ibom State governorship election show that Rt. Hon. Michael Enyong is not listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

A review of the provisional list of governorship candidates displayed by INEC for the 2027 election shows five candidates for Akwa Ibom State, with no NDC candidate appearing on the list.

The candidates listed are Umo Bassey Eno of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Michael Bush of the Labour Party (LP), John James Akpanudoedehe of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Samuel Coffie Emem of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Jeremiah Akpan of the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA).

Michael Enyong’s name is absent from the 2027 Akwa Ibom governorship list. There is therefore no basis, from the current INEC display, to describe him as the NDC’s officially published governorship candidate.

The confusion appears to be linked partly to Enyong’s political history. In 2023, he was briefly listed by INEC as the PDP governorship candidate for Akwa Ibom following a Federal High Court judgment ordering his recognition. INEC subsequently amended its list after the court process, while the Court of Appeal restored Umo Eno as the PDP candidate.

There is, however, evidence that the Akwa Ibom NDC chapter has identified Enyong with its governorship campaign. A June 2026 report quoted the state chapter as referring to Enyong as its governorship candidate.

That claim is different from being published by INEC as an official 2027 governorship candidate.

The issue has become more complicated because the NDC has rejected reports that it failed to field governorship candidates in Akwa Ibom and 10 other states.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, told TheCable on August 31 that the reports were false. He said the party has candidates or “placeholders” in all states and argued that its status should be determined from INEC’s official records.

This creates a clear distinction between the NDC’s claim and INEC’s currently displayed list.

While the NDC says it has candidates or placeholders in every state, the provisional list currently available for Akwa Ibom does not show an NDC governorship candidate or Michael Enyong. Independent election-tracking data also currently records only five governorship candidates in the state, none of them from the NDC.

Therefore, as of September 1, 2026, the accurate position is that Michael Enyong is not an INEC-published NDC governorship candidate for Akwa Ibom State, and the NDC has no governorship candidate shown on INEC’s provisional display for the state.

The situation could still change if INEC subsequently publishes an amendment or accepts further candidate information from the NDC.

The authorized position of 9newsng.com is that Michael Enyong is not currently an INEC-listed 2027 governorship candidate for the NDC in Akwa Ibom State, while the NDC maintains that it has a candidate/place-holder in the state.