Judge dismisses INEC’s preliminary objection, declares exclusion unconstitutional
• Court says electoral body breached PDP candidate’s right to fair hearing
• Rules INEC cannot remove a validly nominated candidate without a court order
• Commission warned against declaring governorship election result without plaintiffs’ participation
Daud Olatunji
The Federal High Court has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to restore the name of the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, to its list of candidates for the 2027 governorship election within 24 hours.
The court, in a judgment delivered on Friday by Justice Peter Lifu, held that INEC lacked the constitutional and statutory powers to unilaterally disqualify a candidate validly nominated by a political party.
It consequently declared the exclusion of Adebutu’s name from the commission’s provisional list unlawful, unconstitutional and of no effect, directing INEC to immediately rectify the list published on October 10, 2026, to reflect his name.
The judgment followed a suit instituted by the PDP and Adebutu, challenging the commission’s decision to omit the former lawmaker’s name despite his emergence from the party’s governorship primary.
Justice Lifu also dismissed INEC’s preliminary objection seeking the termination of the suit, resolving the issues raised in the substantive case in favour of the plaintiffs.
In dismissing the objection, the judge said the originating summons filed by the plaintiffs was competent, noting that it was signed by a senior counsel whose name appeared on the court processes.
“I have carefully assessed the originating summons and I see that it bears the name of the senior counsel and was signed by him. It also has the names of other counsels in the law firm,” the judge said.
The court subsequently proceeded to determine the substantive issues, including whether INEC breached Adebutu’s right to fair hearing and whether the commission possessed the authority to remove his name after his nomination by the PDP.
While reviewing the evidence, the judge noted that Adebutu had previously contested the Ogun governorship election in 2019 and emerged as the PDP candidate in the 2023 election before participating in the party’s primary for the 2027 poll.
He said the plaintiffs maintained that the party conducted its primary on May 24, 2026, and subsequently published Adebutu’s name as its governorship candidate on August 29, without any legal challenge to his emergence.
The court heard that the PDP later discovered that Adebutu’s name was missing when INEC published its provisional list of candidates in October.
The plaintiffs also told the court that the party’s national leadership had written to INEC on October 14, requesting the restoration of Adebutu’s name, but the commission allegedly failed to act on the request.
On the question of membership registration, the judge examined the testimony of the PDP’s National Organising Secretary, Bature, who appeared as the first prosecution witness, and INEC’s programme analyst, Mustapha, who testified as the defence witness.
Bature told the court that he was responsible for the registration of new members and the management of the PDP membership register.
He maintained that the party submitted its membership register to INEC within the stipulated period through a flash drive containing the names of more than 30,000 registered members.
