Nigerian politics has a funny relationship with age. Ask a Gen Z who runs the country, and they will point at a line-up that could organise its own retirement party. So when INEC released its final list of presidential candidates for 2027, the age column turned into the plot twist.

Eighteen candidates will chase Aso Rock on January 16, 2027. Among them, the youngest Nigerian presidential candidates make a colourful bunch: an actress, a lawyer, an architect, a party founder and a former Atiku aide, to name a few. Most carry the flags of smaller parties, a few are repeat runners, and one is 35 and wants to be the youngest president Nigeria has ever had.

Here is who they are, ranked from youngest to oldest by the ages INEC published.

What INEC’s final list says about age

INEC published the final list on September 12, 2026, and it names 18 presidential candidates. Their ages run from 35 to 79. Atiku Abubakar of the ADC is the oldest at 79, and President Bola Tinubu of the APC follows at 74. Peter Obi of the NDC is 65.

Now flip the table. The 10 youngest Nigerian presidential candidates all sit at 55 and below, and each one runs under different parties. Two share the age of 43. Only two women made the whole presidential field, Ada Okwori of the NDP and Esther Okereke of the NRM, and both show up below.

The stakes are real. Voters pick the president and the National Assembly on January 16, 2027, then return on February 6 for governorship and state assembly polls.

SEE ALSO: Atiku Rejects FG’s 30-Day Petrol Discount, Says Relief at NNPC Stations Is Too Limited

Meet the 10 Youngest Nigerian Presidential Candidates

The list below follows INEC’s declared ages, from the youngest to the oldest of the group.

1. Moses Olusoji Adebisi (DLA, 35)

At age 35, Moses Adebisi’s name on the ballot is the youngest of the Nigerian presidential candidates for the 2027 elections, and the only candidate under 40. He flies the flag of the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), and he arrived late: the party swapped him in during a substitution primary after its earlier nominee stepped aside.

He told Arise TV that he is the youngest presidential candidate and that his party chairman is the youngest party chairman in the country. He also claims he is a Harvard doctoral candidate, according to a report of that interview. INEC’s list records a B.Sc. as his declared qualification.

His running mate, Nafisat Usaku Abubakar, is also 35. Add their ages together and you get 70, which is still less than Atiku’s 79.

2. Sunday Chibuzo Okereke (LP, 43)

Dr Sunday Chibuzo Okereke carries the Labour Party’s flag after a consensus pick in late May 2026. His background is policy and lawmaking. The party describes him as a governance expert with a PhD in Legislative Governance Studies, and he lectures in public policy at Miva Open University in Abuja.

He also heads ERGAF-AFRICA, a legislative research hub, and consults for National Assembly committees. INEC’s list adds a master of Library Science to his résumé, so he has studied both how laws get made and how books get shelved.

His running mate is Hajja Bintu Konto, a public health expert and humanitarian practitioner. In a NAN interview, he ruled out any merger or coalition for the LP.

3. Esther Nkem Okereke (NRM, 43)

Esther Okereke has played many roles on screen, and now she wants the biggest one. The Nollywood actress and film producer won the National Rescue Movement’s ticket at its Abuja convention in May 2026, making her the first actress to run for president in Nigeria’s history.

Off camera, she founded Kamdera Services Limited in 2015, a human resources and humanitarian firm, and launched Gliding Stars Football Club in 2023. INEC lists a BSc, MSc and PhD for her.

Her platform, the ESTHER Agenda, stands for Education, Security, Technology, Housing, Entrepreneurship and Restitution. Somebody did the acronym homework. Her running mate, Sulaiman Nasir Muhammed, is 35, so this ticket skews young.

READ ALSO: Toluwanisings: Atiku Vows Healthcare Reform if Elected President in 2027 After Gospel Singer’s Death

4. Abbas-Bin Aliyu (ADP, 44)

Ambassador Aliyu Bin Abbas founded the National Youth Alliance, a movement that says it reaches all 36 states and 774 local governments. He won the Action Democratic Party’s ticket at its Abuja convention, with results landing around 5:30 a.m.

Politics never sleeps.

He is a Borno indigene who reportedly grew up as an almajiri child in Kano, and he later earned postgraduate degrees in the United States. He also served as a political aide to Atiku Abubakar, who now runs on the ADC ticket. His camp says that relationship ended more than two years ago and that this run stands alone.

In August 2026, he warned against alleged plans to swap him out so the north could field a single candidate. His running mate is Chinazam Ike, a former National Youth Leader of the ADP.

5. Ada Elizabeth Frederick Okwori (NDP, 48)

Ada Okwori built a party before she asked anyone for votes. She founded the National Democratic Party and serves as its national chairman. After INEC refused to register the NDP, she took the commission to court, won a Federal High Court judgment, and watched INEC register the party in March 2026.

She hails from Adoka in Benue State and started a grassroots group called Ward2Ward before the NDP. The party unveiled her on June 1, two days after INEC’s primaries deadline, which raised eligibility questions at the time. INEC’s final list nonetheless includes her.

INEC records a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy for her. The NDP says it wants women to hold at least 40 percent of its executive and candidate slots. Her running mate, Chukwuemeka Uchenna Anthony, is also 48.

6. Sunday Oluwafemi Adenuga (BP, 52)

Friends call him “Sonny.” Sunday Adenuga leads the Boot Party, short for Because Of Our Tomorrow, and he also serves as its national chairman. He is an Ogun State businessman and a risk and control expert, and a 2023 candidate profile lists study at Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Pace University.

This is not his first rodeo. He won the party’s 2023 ticket in an e-voting primary, 292 votes to 18, and he returned unopposed in May 2026.

He says the party was conceived in the diaspora, and he has reportedly rejected unity-government talk, arguing older parties would swallow the Boot Party whole. His running mate, Mustapha Usman Turaki, is 40.

ALSO SEE: Why Tinubu, Atiku and Obi Will Fail as President

7. Yusuf Kabiru (APP, 54)

Yusuf Kabiru is the mystery guest of this list of youngest Nigerian presidential candidates. He represents the Action Peoples Party, and Peace Egobia Ofordile is his running mate. INEC lists a First School Leaving Certificate, a Senior Secondary School Certificate and a National Diploma for him.

Beyond that, our search of major Nigerian outlets turned up very little: no widely reported profile and few interviews. He first appeared as the party’s candidate when INEC displayed the candidates’ particulars on 1 August 2026. His occupation and career before 2026 are not established on the public record. He is not the newspaper publisher Kabiru Yusuf of Media Trust, which sometimes get mixed up when you search for him online.

Which makes you wonder how the APP intends to get people to vote for him. Or maybe it’s a new tactic, the mystery and all that. With Nigerian politicians, who knows?

8. Adewole Ebenezer Adebayo (SDP, 54)

Prince Adewole Adebayo is a lawyer and businessman, and he is no stranger to the ballot. He flew the Social Democratic Party’s flag in 2023, then returned unopposed at the party’s Bauchi convention on May 9, 2026.

His campaign leans on a four-year programme covering security, food, water, energy, healthcare, education, housing, jobs, justice and digital access. INEC lists a Bachelor of Laws for him.

His party has had its own drama. A chairmanship dispute split the SDP, and the party had to insist that it had sent his name to INEC on time. The final list now carries it.

ALSO SEE: ‘You Campaigned With “Emi Lokan”’ – Falz Knocks First Lady Over Claims Government Is Under Pressure

9. Peter Ada Agada (YPP, 54)

Architect and policy man Dr Peter Agada first chased the Labour Party’s presidential ticket, then moved to the Young Progressives Party. The YPP picked him on August 21, 2026, when he won 71 of 83 votes in a substitution primary. The party says its earlier nominee, Anita Zugwai-Chukwu, withdrew voluntarily.

He pitches a programme called LabourDirect and says he spent about two decades on policy work with the Congress of Nigerian Professionals. He also says he will keep the fuel subsidy removal, arguing that the real problem lies in how oil money gets managed.

INEC lists a WAEC certificate, a BSc and an MBA for him. His running mate, Patience Ndidi Key, is a US-based entrepreneur and healthcare professional.

10. Omoyele Sowore (AAC, 55)

Sowore anchors the list, and at 55 he proves that only Nigerian politics hands out youth discounts to people in their mid-fifties. He founded the African Action Congress in 2018 and publishes Sahara Reporters. This is his third consecutive run.

He finished fifth in 2019 with 33,953 votes, then collected 14,608 in 2023. Months after the 2019 poll, the State Security Service arrested him over his call for a peaceful revolution.

The AAC made him its consensus candidate at its Abuja primary in May 2026, and he stepped down as national chairman afterwards. He promises what he calls revolutionary change. His running mate is Magashi Haruna Garba, 49.

What the youngest Nigerian presidential candidates have in common

Spread them out and a few patterns jump off the page. Most come from smaller parties, and two of the parties are new: the NDP only got registered in March 2026.

Three candidates are repeat runners. Sowore is on his third try, while Adebayo and Adenuga are each on their second. Two others, Adebisi and Agada, took over their tickets in substitution primaries, which means they joined the race late.

Women show up in force on these tickets. Okwori and Esther Okereke are the only two women running for president. Meanwhile, all four women among the vice-presidential candidates share a ticket with someone on this list: Konto (LP), Usaku Abubakar (DLA), Ofordile (APP) and Ndidi Key (YPP).

Finally, age rarely stops at the top. Both Adebisi and Esther Okereke chose 35-year-old running mates.

Do the youngest Nigerian presidential candidates stand a chance?

Honest answer: history makes the climb steep. Sowore’s numbers show it. He polled 33,953 votes in 2019 and 14,608 in 2023, and he is the best known name of this group. Smaller-party candidates usually collect a sliver of the vote that the main tickets pull in.

This time, three big names dominate the headlines: Tinubu for the APC, Atiku for the ADC and Obi for the NDC. Eighteen candidates share the ballot, and attention is a scarce resource.

Still, a presidential run does more than chase a win. It puts a name, a party and an agenda in front of the country. It also gives young Nigerians a reason to look at a ballot and see someone nearer their age. Adebisi is 44 years younger than Atiku, and a gap that wide guarantees at least one awkward debate moment.

Conclusion: Why the youngest Nigerian presidential candidates matter

The youngest Nigerian presidential candidates will not own the news cycle before January 16, 2027. But they widen the menu. They bring an actress, a lawyer, an architect, an academic and a party founder to a race that usually feels like a reunion.

So read the manifestos, check the running mates and ask the awkward questions. At the very least, learn the names. In a field of 18, the person you haven’t heard of might be the one with the plan that fits your life.

READ ALSO: City Boy Movement: 9 Igbo Billionaires Backing Tinubu Ahead of 2027

The post 2027 Elections: Meet 10 Youngest Nigerian Presidential Candidates appeared first on NBG Africa.