Court orders INEC to publish Adebutu’s name as Ogun PDP governorship candidate within 24 hours

The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Ladi Adebutu as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) governorship candidate for the 2027 Ogun State election within 24 hours.

Judge Peter Lifu gave the order on Friday in a judgement following a suit filed by Mr Adebutu and the PDP to challenge INEC’s exclusion of his name from the final list of candidates for the upcoming 6 February 2027 governorship election.

The judge held that INEC “acted beyond its statutory powers” by removing Mr Adebutu’s name from the list, adding that “the commission had no authority to disqualify a candidate duly nominated by a political party.”

He consequently declared the exclusion “unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void.”

The judge also declared that even if the party had violated the Electoral Act, INEC could not “unilaterally remove the name of a duly nominated candidate without an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.”

In resolving the issues raised by parties, Mr Lifu held that the power to nominate candidates for “elections rested solely with political parties.” He ruled that “Neither INEC nor any other authority could take over that responsibility.”

He explained that while INEC had the responsibility to publish candidates’ names, the publication was an administrative duty. He said it did not confer on the commission the power to nominate or disqualify candidates.

He noted that the PDP conducted its governorship primary on 24 May and that INEC, which monitored the exercise, did not raise any objection to the process at the time.

The judge faulted the commission for waiting more than four months before “belatedly publishing the final list on 10 October” without informing the plaintiffs of any intention to exclude their candidate.

He questioned INEC’s decision to raise the issue after the primary had been conducted and monitored, when it could have raised any concerns in its monitoring report.

Mr Lifu warned that allowing INEC to exercise such powers would amount to a “dangerous show of power”.

He said such authority could allow the commission to disqualify candidates only days before an election, adding that INEC did not possess absolute powers.

The judge also held that the membership register tendered before the court contained Mr Adebutu’s name against serial number 1536.

He said the evidence established that Mr Adebutu was a member of the PDP and that it was the political party, not INEC, that had the authority to determine its membership.

The judge questioned why INEC considered it its responsibility to determine who belonged to a political party, holding that the commission exceeded its powers by omitting Mr Adebutu’s name.

The dispute followed the exclusion of Mr Adebutu and his running mate from the final list of candidates published by INEC for the 6 February 2027 Ogun State governorship election.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that INEC published the final list on 10 October, featuring 13 governorship candidates but excluding the PDP from the race.

INEC said its decision followed the PDP’s alleged failure to comply with the membership register requirements under the Electoral Act 2026.

Section 77(5)–(7) of the Act requires political parties to submit their membership registers to INEC within the stipulated period. The provisions also empower the commission to scrutinise the registers.

In September, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the provisions in a case involving the Zenith Labour Party and INEC. The ruling affirmed the requirement for political parties to submit their membership registers before conducting valid primaries.

Following the exclusion, the PDP and Mr Adebutu approached the Federal High Court in Abuja in October, asking it to compel INEC to recognise him as the party’s governorship candidate.

The plaintiffs challenged the commission’s decision, arguing that it violated their right to fair hearing and breached provisions of the Electoral Act. They asked the court to set aside the decision and direct INEC to publish Mr Adebutu’s name as the party’s governorship candidate within 24 hours of its order.

INEC opposed the suit, maintaining that Mr Adebutu’s name was missing from the PDP membership register submitted to the commission. It therefore urged the court to dismiss the suit for being incompetent.

In his judgement on Friday, Mr Lifu considered the disagreement between the parties over the flash drive containing the PDP’s candidates’ list submitted to INEC.

In a counter-affidavit, Mustapha Mohammed, a chief programme analyst in INEC’s Information and Communication Technology Department, told the court that a search of the register produced the name of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, but not Mr Adebutu’s.

Mr Mohammed also disputed Mr Adebutu’s claim to membership serial number 1536, stating that the number belonged to another party member, Lugboso Sunday Seun.

He further alleged that the flash drive attached to the PDP’s court processes contained records different from those originally submitted to INEC. He said the commission received two flash drives alongside a hard copy of the membership register, but neither contained Mr Adebutu’s name.

The PDP, however, disputed INEC’s account of the documents submitted to the commission.

Testifying for the plaintiffs, the party’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, told the court that the PDP submitted its candidates’ list electronically through a flash drive, in line with Paragraph 4(3) of Part I of INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2026.

Mr Bature maintained that the flash drive contained the names of all the party’s candidates, including Mr Adebutu. He also disputed the flash drive presented by INEC, insisting that the device submitted by the party was silver in colour.

In resolving the issue, the judge noted that, under cross-examination, INEC’s witness, Mr Mohammed, admitted that he was not the person who received the flash drive.

The judge held that the failure to call the person who received the device “was fatal to INEC’s case.”

He also considered the plaintiffs’ evidence that they submitted the candidates’ list electronically in accordance with INEC’s guidelines. The judge held that the PDP complied with the regulations, noting that the commission’s acknowledgement letter did not establish that the party was required to submit a hard copy.

The court further considered evidence that the plaintiffs wrote to INEC after discovering the omission of Mr Adebutu’s name, but the commission still failed to upload his name.

On INEC’s preliminary objection, the judge referred to Order 7 of the Federal High Court Pre-Election Matters Rules 2026, which provides that pre-election matters must be commenced by originating summons. He also held that the suit was duly filed and properly signed. The judge resolved the relevant issues in favour of the plaintiffs and held that their case was “meritorious.”

Consequently Mr Lifu ordered INEC to upload and publish Mr Adebutu’s name as the PDP’s governorship candidate for the 2027 Ogun State election within 24 hours of the order, but made “no order as to costs.”

Speaking to the Supreme Court’s decision on the membership register requirements under the Electoral Act, Mr Lifu clarified that his judgement did not challenge the Supreme Court’s authority or its ruling.

He held that INEC could not rely on the Supreme Court’s decision to exercise powers beyond those conferred on it by law.