The Independent National Electoral Commission rejected 64 petitions on Thursday, clouding the political futures of Ladi Adebutu of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State and Aminu Gwarzo of the Nigeria Democratic Congress in Kano State.
However, the commission cleared former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Pantami to run as the PDP governorship candidate in Gombe State for the 2027 election.
An anonymous INEC source confirmed to The PUNCH on Thursday night that complaints regarding the final 2027 governorship and State House of Assembly candidate lists leave Adebutu’s and Gwarzo’s candidacies in doubt.
The source confirmed Pantami’s clearance to run in Gombe State.
Regarding Adebutu, the source explained that INEC excluded his name because the Peoples Democratic Party failed to submit a candidate list to the commission.
The source noted that a Federal High Court ex parte order prohibiting INEC from publishing Gwarzo’s name excluded the deputy governor from the official list.
In a Thursday night statement, Information and Voter Education Committee Chairman Mohammed Haruna announced that INEC rejected 64 petitions while upholding 66 others challenging the candidate lists for the 2027 governorship and State Assembly elections.
The petitions followed the October 10, 2026 release of final candidate lists, addressing allegations of dual nominations, omitted party membership records, and unlawful party exclusions.
He said the commission reviewed the complaints, relevant records and applicable legal provisions before reaching its decisions.
Backstory…
The controversy surrounding the eligibility of some political parties to sponsor candidates in Nigeria’s 2027 elections stems from a Supreme Court judgment that made the submission of party membership registers to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) a mandatory requirement for participating in elections.
On September 24, 2026, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Sections 77(5)–(7) of the Electoral Act 2026, reversing an earlier Court of Appeal decision that had invalidated the provisions. The sections require political parties to submit their membership registers to INEC within the stipulated period before conducting their primaries.
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