Opara explains why INEC rejected added candidate names
The lawyer's Arise News analysis centers on a court dispute over who can be included on Nigeria's election commission lists.
Arise News
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 37,592 views a day, 17 times a normal first day on this channel (2,268).
If Your Name Was Not On INEC’s List, You Cannot Be Listed As A Candidate — Opara
A party's attempt to add candidate names became a dispute that reached Nigeria's Supreme Court. On Arise News, lawyer and current affairs analyst Maxwell Opara explains why he believes the election commission was right to refuse the additions.
According to the segment's description, the Zenith Labour Party took the matter to the Court of Appeal, which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to add the names. INEC appealed, and the Supreme Court ruled in its favor. Opara's central point is that someone absent from the commission's list before the proceedings cannot be added as a candidate through that process.
The upload drew about 15,500 views in its first seven hours, already well beyond the audience a regular Arise video usually attracts over a full first day. The comments also raise questions about polling-place cameras and the handling of election results, extending the discussion beyond candidate eligibility.
Arise's election coverage that day included a separate segment on INEC's release of governorship candidate lists for 2027, placing Opara's legal explanation alongside the practical business of naming candidates.
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- Channel
- Arise News
- Subscribers
- 1,260,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 4,375,665
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,000,285 (on a normal day: 601,160)
- Video published
- October 11, 2026
- Video views so far
- 15,508 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 37,592
The numbers
Opara's analysis has drawn an unusually large early audience for a regular Arise News upload.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which party brought the candidate-list dispute described in the segment?
The segment's description identifies the Zenith Labour Party as the party that took the matter to the Court of Appeal.