Legis360

Fewer than 6% of 2027 candidates are under 30 Of the 15,103 candidates on INEC’s final lists for 2027, 884 are aged 25 to 29. That is the group the Not Too Young To Run amendment opened up for the State Assemblies and House of Representatives, and it is under 6% of the field. Another 2,243 are aged 30 to 35, about 2.5 times as many. Together, the 3,127 candidates aged 35 or under are 21% of the field. The ballot is dominated by the middle. Candidates aged 36 to 45 (5,681) and 46 to 55 (3,782) total 9,463, or 63% of everyone running. The median candidate is 43. The field is not simply old. Candidates aged 35 or under outnumber those aged 56 or over (2,508) by more than 600, and only 413 candidates, under 3%, are 66 or older. The shortfall is at the young end, and it widens up the ballot. Candidates aged 35 or under make up: 25% of State House of Assembly candidates 17% of House of Representatives candidates 4% of Senate candidates 2% of governorship candidates The minimum age is 25 for the State Assemblies and House of Representatives, and 35 for the Senate, governorship and presidency. At those higher offices, “35 or under” means exactly 35, so the 4% and 2% figures describe candidates at the legal floor, not a spread of young ages. The more telling numbers are at the offices open to 25-year-olds. There, three in four State Assembly candidates and more than four in five House of Representatives candidates are 36 or older. The presidential race has one candidate aged 35 or under, Moses Adebisi of the Democratic Leadership Alliance. The median presidential candidate is 55. Ages are as declared to INEC on the final lists (six candidates have no valid age). “Youth” here means aged 35 or under, the African Youth Charter band. See how old the candidates in your constituency are: everyvotes.legis360.org/cand… Source: INEC final lists of candidates, 2027. Analysis: EveryVotes by Legis360.

No office on the 2027 ballot is more than 11% women Nigeria’s affirmative action target is 35% women in elective and appointive positions. On INEC’s final lists of candidates for 2027, the best-performing office reaches 11.1%, less than a third of that target. Women’s share of candidates by office: 11.1% of presidential candidates 10.3% of State House of Assembly candidates 9.7% of House of Representatives candidates 9.4% of Senate candidates 6% of governorship candidates Governor is the widest gap. At 6%, women’s share is about one in seventeen candidates and under a fifth of the 35% target. The Senate and House of Reps sit just under 10%, and State Assembly, the entry-level office, is only marginally higher at 10.3%. Women’s share does not rise or fall steadily up the ballot. It is low everywhere. The top of the ticket is the highest figure, but the presidential field is small, so one or two candidates move that percentage a long way. The governorship figure is the more telling one, because it is drawn from a much larger field and is still the lowest. The shortfall is also not a legal one in the usual sense. The 35% figure comes from the National Gender Policy and is a target, not a requirement that parties must meet when submitting candidates. Parties decide who gets on the ballot, and these numbers show what those decisions produced before a single vote was cast. Percentages are shares of candidates on INEC’s final lists for each office. Source: INEC final lists of candidates, 2027. Analysis: EveryVotes by Legis360. Check the candidates in your constituency: everyvotes.legis360.org/cand…

Most incumbents want to keep their seats in 2027. Most of Nigeria’s elected officials are asking voters for another term, according to an EveryVotes analysis of @inecnigeria final candidate lists for the 2027 general elections. President Bola Tinubu is on the presidential ballot. In the 28 states holding governorship elections, 17 sitting governors are seeking re-election. Ten of the other eleven have served two terms and cannot run again. That leaves Rivers State’s Siminalayi Fubara as the only governor who could have run but is not on INEC’s list. Of the term-limited governors, Seyi Makinde of Oyo is running for President and six others are contesting Senate seats. In the National Assembly, 75 of 109 senators (69%) and 245 of 360 House of Representatives members (68%) are back on the ballot for the seats they hold now. Another 13 sitting lawmakers are running for a different office, most moving from the House to the Senate or into governorship races. At the State Assembly level, 452 of 991 seats have the sitting member on the ballot again. This is a minimum: it matches Legis360 LIP rosters covering 29 of the 35 states holding Assembly elections and does not yet include Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, or Zamfara. The scale of re-contesting means many voters will judge candidates partly on a record in office. For federal lawmakers seeking another term, EveryVotes links each candidate’s profile to their legislative record on LIP, covering bills sponsored, motions and committee work. Source: INEC final candidate lists, 2027. Analysis: EveryVotes by Legis360.

State Police bill clears the 24-state threshold: what it means and what comes next legis360.org/post?id=31

From 5 to 17 in two days: State Police ratification is back on track. On 16 October, the National Assembly’s 30-day target for the 36 State Houses of Assembly lapsed, with only 5 approvals of the State Police constitution-alteration bill. Then, on 20 and 21 October, 12 assemblies voted. Ogun, Delta, Plateau, Kwara, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Cross River, Enugu, Taraba, Benue, Anambra and Ekiti have now joined Osun, Edo, Rivers, Oyo, and Zamfara. That makes 17 of 36. Section 9(2) of the Constitution requires 24, so 7 more approvals are needed. No Assembly has rejected the bill. Three things stand out: Not every Yes is a clean Yes: Adamawa approved 24 of the bill’s 26 clauses and rejected 2. Ekiti approved it “subject to” an amendment to the proposed Section 317A(5). Under Section 9(2), Assemblies can only approve or reject the text they receive, so how the National Assembly counts these two votes is worth watching. Funding has reached the floor: In Benue’s debate, two members asked how state police would be paid for when existing security agencies already lack equipment and money. The bill leaves financing to later federal law. Benue still voted yes, but the question will return when the National Policing Bill arrives. The details are still being written: The Presidential Working Group sent the draft National Policing Bill and 29 related bills to the Ministry of Justice on 19 October. The Ministry is due to return them by 30 October. Which states will provide the last 7 approvals? 18 Assemblies have yet to vote, including Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi. We are tracking every Assembly’s vote, with dates, vote counts and sources, on the Legis360 Constitution Tracker: lip.legis360.org/tracker #StatePolice #Nigeria #ConstitutionReview #Legislature #Governance #Legis360 @ARISEtv @channelstv @BBCAfrica

We are hosting the West Africa Youth Democracy Conference 2026, which opens in Dakar from 8 to 10th of September. #WAYDC2025

There's what @nansbello have to say on the #CountMeIn Podcast. 🔥👏🏾👏🏾 @ng_youthfund

🚨 NEW: The Count Me In Podcast is live! Ep. 1: Know Your Power breaks down the Electoral Act 2026, PVC wahala and the tools helping young Nigerians mobilise. No jargon. Just your power, explained. 🗳️ 🎧 Watch/listen: youtu.be/SNtmZgvBcE4 #CountMeIn @ng_youthfund

📊 TURNOUT UPDATE | #OsunDecides2026 Estimated turnout by LGA 🗳️ State average: 44.4% 📈 Highest: Orolu (64.2%), Ila (60.3%) 📉 Lowest: OlaOluwa (30.1%), AtakumosaWest (32.9%) ⚠️ Provisional; coverage varies by LGA. Live tracker 👉 everyvotes.legis360.org

🔔 RESULT UPDATE | #OsunDecides2026 With 2,853 of 3,763 PUs reporting (75.8%): 🟡 Accord: 360,955 votes (51.7%) 🔴 APC: 303,621 votes (43.5%) ⚠️ Figures are Preliminary and not official. Live tracker 👉 everyvotes.legis360.org

🔔 RESULT UPDATE | #OsunDecides2026 With 640 of 3,763 PUs reporting (17.0%): 🟡 Accord leads with 58,095 votes (51.1% of vote share) 📊 Total votes counted so far: 119,879 ⚠️ Figures are not officials Live tracker 👉 everyvotes.legis360.org

🗳️ #OsunDecides2026 | Preliminary findings from EveryVotes observers: ⏰ 82.8% of PUs opened between 8:01–9am ⚡ 48.3% of voters accredited in under 2 mins ⚠️ 17.2% of reports: verified PVCs refused over BVAS authentication failures Reporting ongoing 👉 everyvotes.legis360.org