The DLA's presidential candidate is on the INEC list, and the public record about him disagrees with itself

INEC’s signed final list of candidates for the 2027 presidential election - the commission’s own document, downloaded from inecnigeria.org and read here, not a newspaper’s reprint of it - carries the entry on page 2 of three. Every page is signed by Rose Oriaran-Anthony, Secretary of the Commission. Entry 9, against DLA, reads "ADEBISI MOSES OLUSOJI", age 35, male, with Abubakar Nafisat Usaku, 35, female, as running mate. Both filed FSLC SSCE BSc.

That single line closes a question our earlier reporting had to leave open. Tribune Online called this candidate "Adebisi Olusoji"; Nairametrics, citing the same INEC list, gave "Moses Olusoji Adebisi". INEC itself prints "ADEBISI MOSES OLUSOJI". The commission’s register of parties closes the second open question the same way: the DLA is the Democratic Leadership Alliance, not the "Democratic Liberty Alliance" that appeared in some coverage.

The register then produces something the coverage missed entirely. It gives the DLA’s national chairman as "Barr. Samuel M. Memeh" - the same Samuel Memeh who was reported to have withdrawn as the party’s presidential candidate in Olusoji’s favour. The man who stepped aside from the ticket is the man who runs the party. That is not an allegation of anything; it is simply what two INEC documents say when read together, and it changes how the withdrawal reads.

The ages are their own fact. At 35 and 35, this is the youngest ticket in the field by a clear margin, and 35 is precisely the minimum age the Nigerian constitution sets for the presidency. Both candidates are at the floor of eligibility, in a field whose oldest presidential candidate is 79.

The party is almost as new as its candidate is young. INEC registered the Democratic Leadership Alliance with effect from 5 February 2026, alongside the Nigeria Democratic Congress, saying it had complied with the constitutional and statutory requirements for registration. A party less than eight months old is contesting a presidential election.

Alongside it we read INEC’s register of political parties, which lists 22 registered parties. Only 18 of them field a presidential candidate in 2027; APGA, the NNPP, Accord and the Youth Party field none.

What the documents do not carry is the candidate. Tribune describes him as a United States-based entrepreneur; Nairametrics gives Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State as his place of origin. Beyond the particulars he filed with INEC, his business record, his career and the party’s manifesto are established by no primary document we could retrieve.

So the DLA’s candidacy is now precisely documented at its edges and empty at its centre: an exact legal name, an exact party name, an exact age, a running mate at the same constitutional minimum, a party eight months old, and a chairman who vacated the ticket the candidate now holds. Who Adebisi Moses Olusoji is remains unrecorded.

What this rests on

The candidacy, the printed name, the age, the running mate and the filed qualifications rest on INEC’s own signed final list, read on the page. INEC's registration and candidate-list records for the party and candidacy; Tribune Online and Nairametrics for the candidate's identity and profile.

What this does not establish

The candidacy is documented; the person is not. The candidate's exact legal name and his party's exact legal name are reported inconsistently and were not confirmed against his INEC nomination form; his biography, business record and the party's manifesto are undocumented in the sources reviewed.