Nigeria's 2027 general election is not a single day — it runs across two Saturdays, and the road to it has a fixed set of milestones set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Here is the calendar in plain language, drawn from INEC's revised 2027 timetable.
The two election days
- Saturday, 16 January 2027 — Presidential and National Assembly elections (President, Senate, House of Representatives).
- Saturday, 6 February 2027 — Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
If you are registered, those are the two dates to protect. Everything below builds toward them.
The road there
- 23 April – 30 May 2026 — Parties hold their primaries and resolve disputes arising from them. This is when candidates are chosen.
- Mid-to-late July 2026 — Parties file their candidate nominations through INEC's online portal.
- 19 August 2026 — Presidential and National Assembly campaigns may officially begin.
- 9 September 2026 — Governorship and State Assembly campaigns may officially begin.
INEC issued this as a revised timetable after consulting the political parties, so treat the polling days as firm and the in-between dates as the official schedule unless the Commission announces a further change.
Eight states that won't vote for governor
Governorship elections will not be held in eight states during the 2027 cycle, because their elections fall off-cycle following past court rulings: Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun. Voters in those states still vote in the presidential and National Assembly elections in January 2027 — they simply elect their governors on a different schedule.
What's actually on your ballot
Depending on your state, you could be choosing a President, a Senator, a House of Representatives member, a Governor, and a State Assembly member. We break down what each of those offices actually does in What every seat on your 2027 ballot does, and you can browse the National Assembly and governorship fields as they firm up.
PoliticsDirect is non-partisan. This article summarises publicly announced electoral dates and applies to every voter and party equally.