The South East and South West have recorded the highest number of presidential candidates ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 general election, with four candidates each emerging from the two geopolitical zones, according to data attributed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The figures, published by Statisense, show that 19 presidential candidates have so far emerged across 19 political parties, with contenders drawn from all six geopolitical zones. The distribution places the South East and South West at the top of the regional breakdown, ahead of the other four zones.
The South East has four candidates on the list: Peter Obi of the New Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Nwanyanwu Daniel Danerechukwu of the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), Okereke Sunday Chibuzor of the Labour Party (LP) and Okereke Iken Esther of the National Rescue Movement (NRM).
The South West also has four candidates, including President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), Rufai Adekunle Omoaje of the Action Alliance (AA) and Adenuga Sunday of the Boot Party.
The North East and South South each account for three candidates. The North East has Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Abbas-Bin Aliyu of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) and Dikwa Suleiman Mohammed of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), while the South South is represented by Sandy Onor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Donald Duke of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and Memeh Samuel of the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA).
The North Central and North West have the fewest candidates in the dataset, with one and three respectively. The spread of the candidates across all six geopolitical zones highlights the wide geographical reach of the 2027 presidential contest, while the strong showing by the South East and South West could further shape conversations around zoning, alliances and the possible consolidation of opposition forces ahead of the election.
