Independent National Electoral Commission will today take a final decision on the omission of the Ogun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Hon Ladi Adebutu; former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami; Kano State candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Aminu Gwarzo and other politicians omitted from its final list of candidates for the February 6, 2027 governorship elections.
The fate of these affected candidates will be determined at the electoral body’s meeting scheduled for today (Thursday) in Abuja.
INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna, confirmed this on Wednesday.
Just like Adebutu, Pantami is contesting the Gombe governorship election under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The PDP governorship candidates’ names, alongside that of Gwarzo, the Kano governorship flagbearer of the NDC and his Kaduna State counterpart, Danjuma Laah, among others, were omitted in the INEC list published on October 10.
The list also excluded the governorship candidates of the Social Democratic Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, Action Alliance and Accord in Bauchi State.
The affected candidates are Abdullahi Yakubu, Musa Zubairu, Ahmed Shuaibu and Mohammed Aminu, respectively.
Following this development, the affected candidates and their political parties have been protesting and making legal moves for redress.
INEC has scheduled the matter for deliberation today amid the uncertainty over whether the affected candidates would be reinstated following complaints by their political parties.
According to Haruna, “As for the final list of candidates, we will meet on it at our next commission meeting on Thursday (today).”
INEC had attributed the affected candidates’ exclusions to the failure of their various political parties to submit their membership registers within the period stipulated by law.
The electoral umpire’s decision followed the Supreme Court judgment of September 24, 2026, which upheld the constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026, requiring political parties to submit their membership registers to INEC before conducting valid primaries, congresses and conventions.
Giving further reasons for its decision to delist the affected candidates, INEC said the apex court had affirmed the legality of its timetable requiring political parties to submit their membership registers between April 21 and May 10, 2026.
“In particular, the court upheld the constitutionality of Item No. 2 of INEC’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities, which mandated political parties to submit their membership registers between 21st April and 10th May, 2026,” it stated.
INEC maintained that political parties which failed to comply with the requirement were not eligible to sponsor candidates in the 2027 elections.
Also, in applying the Supreme Court judgment to the final list of governorship candidates, the electoral umpire also relied on Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which requires authorities to enforce decisions of competent courts,
But the affected political parties have maintained that they complied with the relevant provisions, urging INEC to correct what they described as wrongful omissions of their candidates.
PDP had lodged complaints with the commission over the exclusion of Pantami and Adebutu, while its National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, deposed to an affidavit at the Federal High Court Registry in Abuja on October 15, challenging the omissions.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Jungudo, had said the party leadership and the candidates’ legal teams were engaging INEC over the matter, adding that legal action remained an option if the commission failed to resolve the dispute.
Meanwhile, the PDP in Ogun State has expressed confidence that Adebutu would eventually be included in a revised INEC list.
State PDP Chairman, Abayomi Tella, described their governorship flagbearer’s exclusion as an error, insisting that the party had fulfilled the legal requirements for his nomination.
“The party views the omission as an error by INEC; we are very confident and optimistic that INEC will restore the name because every requirement of the law has been fulfilled,” Tella said.
In Gombe State, an aide to Pantami said the former minister would pursue available legal options to challenge his exclusion.
Pantami emerged as the PDP governorship candidate following a court-ordered rerun of the party’s primary on September 29.
The former minister’s name appeared on INEC’s provisional list published on August 29 but was missing from the final list released on October 10.
Similarly, NDC has protested the exclusion of its Kano governorship flagbearer, Gwarzo and his running mate, Mustapha Rabiu Kwankwaso.
NDC National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said the party had written to INEC and received acknowledgements but was yet to receive a substantive response.
Recall that INEC had earlier given political parties 14 days from the publication of the final list to notify it of candidates they believed had been wrongly omitted, in accordance with Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026. The deadline expired on October 24.
