Court fixes Friday for judgment in PDP, Adebutu’s suit against INEC

The Federal High Court in Abuja fixed Friday to deliver judgment in a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of its candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, for the 2027 Ogun governorship election. Justice Peter Lifu fixed the date after parties called their witnesses and adopted their processes in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PDP and Adebutu had, on Oct. 22, filed the suit following the removal of Adebutu’s name from the list of contestants of the governorship seat in Ogun. The plaintiffs sued INEC as the sole defendant in the suit filed by their lawyer, Ahmed Raji, SAN. The plaintiffs, who sought six questions for determination, prayed the court for 11 reliefs.

They sought an order setting aside the commission’s decision to omit, remove or refuse to publish Adebutu’s name in the final list of candidates published on Oct. 10 for denial of a fair hearing and violation of the provisions of Section 29 and Section 32 of the Electoral Act, 2026. They also sought an order directing or compelling “the defendant to, within twenty-four (24) hours of the order/orders of this honourable court, include and/or publish the name of the 2nd plaintiff as the 1st plaintiff’s governorship candidate for Ogun State in the forthcoming 2027 General Election,” among other reliefs.

In a counter-affidavit deposed to by Mr Mustapha Mohammed, a Chief Programme Analyst in its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department, INEC told the court that Adebutu’s name was not found in the register of members the PDP earlier submitted to it. INEC told the court that it found only the name of the PDP’s deputy governorship candidate in the state, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, in the register.

Meanwhile, at the last sitting on Nov. 5, the plaintiffs and the defendants called their witnesses to testify as to the propriety of their claims. Giving his evidence on behalf of the plaintiffs, the PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, told the court that in the flash drive submitted to INEC which contained all the names of its candidates, the name of Adebutu was included.

Bature, who was led in evidence by Raji, stated that contrary to the colour of the INEC’s flash drive brought to the court, the flash drive submitted to the commission was silver in colour. The PDP witness said the party only submitted a soft copy of the list of their candidates, which was the flash drive, to the electoral umpire in line with the Electoral Act and Paragraph 4(3) of Part 1 of the Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, 2026, issued by INEC.

In his testimony, Mohammed, the Chief Programme Analyst with INEC, insisted that Adebutu’s name was not in the list of names of candidates submitted to the commission. The witness told the court that the PDP submitted both the hard copy and a flash drive (soft copy) of the list of its candidates to the commission. After listening to the parties, Justuce Lifu fixed Nov. 13 for the judgment. (NAN)