Three opposition governorship candidates still don’t know whether they’ll be on the ballot for the February 6, 2027, polls after the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) deadline for complaints about omitted candidates passed on Saturday.
NEWSNGR reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates in Gombe and Ogun states, Prof Isa Pantami and Oladipupo Adebutu, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate in Kano State, Aminu Gwarzo, are among those omitted.
Although the PDP and the NDC have formally protested the exclusion of their candidates from the final list, INEC has yet to signal whether it will make any changes.
According to Punch, findings showed that neither negotiations with the commission nor the parties’ legal moves had produced a breakthrough as of Saturday.
The electoral body based the omissions on the Supreme Court’s September 24, 2026 judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, which affirmed Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
Under the provisions, parties must submit their membership registers to INEC within a specified period and use the registers to conduct their primaries, congresses and conventions.
After releasing the final list of candidates on October 10, the commission, relying on Section 32(2) of the Act, gave parties until October 24 to draw its attention to any candidate wrongly left out.
The affected parties, however, maintain that they complied fully with the law and want their candidates restored.
PDP Files Affidavit At Federal High Court
The PDP said it met all conditions to nominate its candidates in Gombe and Ogun.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Mohammed Jungudo, told Sunday Punch that the party leadership and the candidates’ lawyers had engaged INEC on the matter, warning that the party would go to court if the issue was not resolved within the 14-day period.
On October 15, the party, through its National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, deposed to an affidavit at the Federal High Court Registry, Abuja, faulting the exclusion of Pantami and Adebutu and urging INEC to reinstate them.
Adebutu’s Camp In Ogun State Reacts
The Director of Media for the Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation, Afolabi Orekoya, said they had taken all the required steps.
“We have approached INEC, and we have done all the necessary things required of us. We are very confident that by October 24, the name of Hon. Ladi Adebutu will be published by INEC in the revised list of candidates,” he said.
He said the former governorship candidate remained upbeat about the race and had kept rallying party members.
The Ogun PDP Chairman, Abayomi Tella, also said the omission was a mistake on the part of INEC, stressing that the party submitted its complaint within the legal timeframe.
“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, an aide to Pantami said the former minister was determined to challenge his exclusion and that his lawyers had written to the commission.
“Malam has chosen to fight this illegality. We have appealed this illegality. You saw the letter written by Senior Advocates of Nigeria and their 72-hour order. We have chosen to appeal this case, and until we get a solution, we will not back out,” the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Pantami became the PDP candidate after a court-ordered rerun of the party’s governorship primary on September 29.
His name was on INEC’s provisional list released on August 29, but was dropped from the final list published on October 10.
NDC Awaits INEC’s Response
The NDC also kicked against the removal of its Kano governorship candidate, Gwarzo, and his running mate, Mustapha Rabiu Kwankwaso, from the list.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said the NDC had written to INEC and received acknowledgement of its letters, but was still awaiting a substantive reply.
He said the party would consider legal options if the commission failed to act.
