The Independent National Electoral Commission has given political parties three additional days to submit their candidates for the 2027 governorship and State House of Assembly elections.

The commission announced that the new deadline is Tuesday, August 11, extending the earlier closing date of Saturday, August 8.

INEC said the extension was granted after several political parties requested more time to complete the submission of their candidates through its online platform.

The decision was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by Mohammed Haruna, National Commissioner and Chairman of the commission’s Information and Voter Education Committee.

Meanwhile, the electoral body has stopped the collection of Permanent Voter Cards in Osun State ahead of the August 15 governorship election.

Voters who applied to replace lost, damaged or defaced PVCs have until midnight on Sunday, August 9, to print downloadable versions of their cards.

INEC explained that the deadline would allow it to collate information on the downloaded cards and determine the final number of PVCs collected before the election.

The PVC collection exercise began at Registration Area centres between July 22 and 28 before being extended to July 31 because of overcrowding and other difficulties reported by voters.

Collection was later transferred to local government centres, where the exercise continued from August 1 to 7.

The commission also confirmed that replacement downloadable PVCs were provided for voters in Odo-Otin and Ife Central Local Government Areas after cards were stolen during attacks on the two collection centres.

According to INEC, the stolen cards cannot be used to cast votes.

The commission said it was fully prepared to conduct the Osun governorship election on August 15, assuring residents that the poll would be free, fair, credible and inclusive.