The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State, Kelechi Anosike, has said that 15,000 civil servants who were allegedly sacked or prematurely retired by the present administration in the state would be recalled if he is elected governor in 2027.

Anosike stated this on Thursday at the NUJ Press Centre, Umuahia, while speaking as a guest during the monthly congress of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Abia State Council.

The PDP governorship candidate, who alleged that the administration of Governor Alex Otti was not practising a system that favoured citizens’ welfare, said it was wrong to sack workers or retire them before their due dates.

“If the rule says you will work 35 years and you retire, or 60 years; if you don’t attain those milestones, a welfarist government will not retire you.

“Inform those 15,000 workers that were sacked before time that Kelechi Anosike will recall all of them.

“Some of them are 50 years, some of them are 52 years. They did nothing, no query, no public inquiry, and you sack them and they are now suffering in their homes,” Anosike said.

He scored the administration of Governor Alex Otti low on the utilisation of funds accruing from subsidy removal, saying that the state government was concentrating its efforts on road infrastructure without adequately addressing other direct needs of the citizens.

He regretted that the level of unemployment in Abia State was forcing youths to move to Lagos and Abuja in search of jobs after graduating from tertiary institutions, but promised to address the challenge through industrialisation and other youth-friendly policies.

He further challenged journalists in Abia State to always ask critical questions about governance, noting, “Journalists are the conscience of society, and not megaphones for politicians.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are set to field candidates for all 469 National Assembly seats in the 2027 elections as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) prepares to release the final list of candidates.

The National Assembly seats comprise 109 senatorial positions and 360 seats in the House of Representatives.

INEC is expected to publish the final list of candidates for the January 16, 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, September 12, 2026, in line with the timetable for the polls.

Section 32(1) of the 2026 Electoral Act requires the commission to publish the final list of candidates at least 60 days before the date fixed for an election.

Sources within the commission said INEC officials were currently compiling and verifying the details of candidates ahead of the publication, making it difficult to give a final figure for the number of candidates that will appear on the list.

One of the sources said the commission was also being cautious to avoid any action that could lead political parties to accuse it of favouring one party or candidate over another.

Another source said the APC, PDP and ADC had presented candidates for all 469 National Assembly seats, while the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) was expected to field candidates for all 109 senatorial seats and 219 House of Representatives seats.

However, the figures could not be independently verified as INEC officials had not publicly confirmed the final number of candidates submitted by each political party.

The deadline for the substitution of candidates for the presidential and National Assembly elections expired on Saturday, August 22, while the submission of nomination forms, Form EC 13A-E, closed on Saturday, August 29, 2026.

The publication of the National Assembly candidates will follow INEC’s recent release of details of candidates for the 2027 governorship elections.

Recall that the commission had published the names and personal details of governorship candidates through Form EC9 and displayed the information at its offices across the country.

The published particulars included candidates’ ages, educational qualifications and other information contained in their nomination documents.

The governorship list showed that several major political parties, including the APC, ADC, PDP, NDC and Allied Peoples Movement, are participating in contests across the states.

Rivers State, for instance, has 19 governorship candidates listed by INEC, while Sokoto and Bauchi also have 19 candidates each. Lagos has 17 candidates, while Kaduna and Gombe have 17 candidates apiece.

In Ogun State, 13 political parties have presented governorship candidates, including APC’s Solomon Adeola, PDP’s Oladipupo Adebutu and ADC’s Jimi Lawal.

The APC has also uploaded its governorship candidates to the INEC portal, with several serving governors and prominent political figures seeking to retain or capture power in the 2027 elections.

The party’s candidates include Obafemi Hamzat in Lagos, Solomon Adeola in Ogun, Sharafadeen Alli in Oyo, Kingsley Chinda in Rivers, Eric Opah in Abia and Uba Sani in Kaduna.

Other APC candidates include Mustapha Gubio in Borno, Jamilu Gwamna in Gombe, Aliyu Wadada in Nasarawa, Yakubu Danladi-Salihu in Kwara, Baba Malam Wali in Yobe and Hyacinth Alia in Benue.

The party is also fielding Bassey Otu in Cross River, Sheriff Oborevwori in Delta, Francis Nwifuru in Ebonyi, Peter Mbah in Enugu, Umar Namadi in Jigawa, Abba Yusuf in Kano and Dikko Radda in Katsina.

The remaining APC governorship candidates include Ahmed Tijani Galadima in Adamawa, Umar Bago in Niger, Nasir Idris in Kebbi, Caleb Mutfwang in Plateau, Umo Eno in Akwa Ibom, Dauda Lawal in Zamfara, Mohammed Abubakar in Bauchi, Ahmed Aliyu in Sokoto and Agbu Kefas in Taraba.