Court orders INEC to publish Adebutu's name as Ogun PDP governorship candidate within 24 hours
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered INEC to upload and publish Ladi Adebutu's name as the PDP's governorship candidate for Ogun State's 6 February 2027 election within 24 hours. Justice Peter Lifu held that INEC acted beyond its powers by removing a duly nominated candidate, declaring the exclusion unlawful and unconstitutional. INEC had said Adebutu's name was missing from the PDP membership register it received; the court found the register before it carried his name.
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Key points
- A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered INEC to publish Ladi Adebutu's name as the PDP's Ogun governorship candidate within 24 hours.
- Justice Peter Lifu held that INEC acted beyond its powers — only a court can disqualify a duly nominated candidate — and declared the exclusion unlawful and unconstitutional.
- INEC had left the PDP off its 10 October final list, saying Adebutu's name was missing from the party register it received; the court found the register before it carried his name.
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- Whether INEC complies within 24 hours, or appeals, is not yet known.
What happened
The case grows out of the Electoral Act 2026's membership-register rule: parties must submit their registers to INEC, and the commission may scrutinise them. In September the Supreme Court upheld those provisions, and INEC's final governorship lists then left names missing in several states, including Ogun — where the PDP, one of Nigeria's two main parties, was left without a candidate at all.
Adebutu, the PDP's 2023 governorship candidate in Ogun, won the party's primary on 24 May, which INEC monitored. After the 10 October list omitted him and his running mate, he and the party went to court arguing their right to fair hearing had been breached. Friday's judgment resolves that case in their favour; what happens next is INEC's move.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- That the Federal High Court ordered INEC on Friday to publish Adebutu's name within 24 hours and declared his exclusion unlawful.
- That INEC's 10 October final list named 13 Ogun governorship candidates and left the PDP out, on the membership-register ground.
- That the court found the register before it carried Adebutu's name, and rejected INEC's preliminary objection.
What we don't know yet
- Whether INEC will publish the name within 24 hours, or appeal — it had not responded in the reporting read.
- Whether the same reasoning will restore other candidates dropped under the register rule in other states.
- What INEC will say about the flash-drive evidence the court found fatal to its case.
Claim by claim
Show all claims (5)
Why this label: Two independent Nigerian newsrooms report the same judgment, judge, order and 24-hour deadline; the News Agency of Nigeria's account, carried by several outlets, agrees.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The reasoning is quoted and paraphrased from the judgment as reported in full by Premium Times; FrontPage's account of the same rulings agrees.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The list, the date and the register ground are stated in both reports; the suit number is BusinessDay's. The September Supreme Court ruling is the same membership-register decision behind this site's earlier story on names missing from the governorship lists.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The two accounts of the register conflict; the court's finding is stated as the court's finding. Both sides' testimony is carried as reported in the judgment reporting.
On the ladder: credible sources conflict, so we show both workings. One side's own statement is that side's position — never proof.
Why this label: Compliance is the open question after the judgment; this page runs in Checking state until INEC's response is reported.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why it matters
The judgment draws a line under INEC's power over who appears on the ballot: the court says the commission publishes candidates but cannot remove them on its own reading of a party's register — only a court can. With governorship elections due on 6 February 2027, the ruling affects every party whose candidates were dropped under the same register rule, not only the PDP in Ogun.
Background
Show the background timeline (5)
The PDP holds its Ogun governorship primary, monitored by INEC, and Adebutu emerges as its candidate.
The Supreme Court upholds the Electoral Act's membership-register provisions in the Zenith Labour Party case.
INEC publishes its final list of governorship candidates: 13 names for Ogun, with the PDP left out.
The PDP and Adebutu sue INEC at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Peter Lifu orders INEC to publish Adebutu's name within 24 hours.
Update history
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- Latest
Published in Checking state — the court has ordered INEC to publish Adebutu's name within 24 hours; the commission's response is still awaited.