Court Orders INEC To Reinstate Adebutu As Ogun PDP Governorship Candidate

The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reinstate the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, on its list of candidates for the 2027 governorship election within 24 hours.

Justice Peter Lifu gave the order in a judgment delivered on Friday, ruling that INEC lacked the constitutional and statutory authority to independently disqualify a candidate validly nominated by a political party.

The court also held that the electoral commission violated Adebutu’s right to fair hearing by excluding his name from the final list of candidates without giving him an opportunity to defend himself.
Justice Lifu consequently declared the removal of Adebutu’s name unlawful, unconstitutional and of no legal effect.

The judge maintained that the authority to disqualify a candidate whose name had been submitted by a political party rested with the Federal High Court or a State High Court.
The judgment followed a suit instituted by the PDP and Adebutu after INEC excluded his name from the final list of candidates published on October 10, 2026.

Before determining the substantive issues in the case, the court dismissed INEC’s preliminary objection challenging the competence of the suit, ruling that the originating summons was properly signed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and contained the names of other lawyers in his firm.

In considering the substantive matter, the court examined whether INEC violated Adebutu’s right to fair hearing and whether the commission possessed the legal authority to independently remove his name from the candidates’ list.

Adebutu had informed the court that he contested the 2019 Ogun State governorship election and emerged as the PDP candidate for the 2023 election.

He further stated that he participated in the party’s governorship primary election for the 2027 poll and was nominated on May 24, 2026, adding that the party subsequently published his name on August 29 without any objection.
However, he discovered that his name was missing when INEC released its final list of governorship candidates in October.

The plaintiffs also told the court that the PDP National Secretary had written to INEC on October 14, requesting the commission to reverse its decision, but the request was allegedly ignored.

The PDP’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, who testified for the plaintiffs, maintained that Adebutu was a registered member of the party and that his name was included in the membership register submitted to INEC.
Bature said the party submitted its membership register, containing more than 30,000 names, to the commission on April 22, 2026, through a flash drive.

He further insisted that Adebutu was the first person to register as a member of the party on February 24, 2026, stressing that his membership had never been in dispute.

However, INEC’s witness, Mustapha Mohammed, a programme analyst with the commission, told the court that a search conducted before the publication of the final candidates’ list did not reveal Adebutu’s name in the PDP membership register.

According to him, only the name of the party’s deputy governorship candidate was found in the register.

During cross-examination, however, Mohammed admitted that he was not the official who received the flash drive submitted by the PDP and could not independently confirm its exact contents.

Relying on the evidence presented before it, Justice Lifu held that INEC failed to establish that Adebutu’s name was absent from the membership register submitted by the party.

The judge also faulted the commission for failing to challenge the conduct of the May 24 governorship primary within the legally prescribed period.

Expressing concern over the commission’s actions, Justice Lifu said: “As far as I know, no person filed any suit to challenge Adebutu 14 days after the conduct of the poll. It was baffling that INEC waited until August.”

The judge warned against allowing INEC to exercise powers not expressly conferred on it by law, cautioning that such authority could create room for arbitrary disqualification of candidates close to an election.

“If this is not resolved, there will be a day that INEC will disqualify a candidate a day to election. This must not be allowed. This would be an absurdity,” he said.

On the limits of INEC’s authority, the judge further declared: “INEC does not have the power to remove names or disqualify any candidate on its own. The power to disqualify a candidate after the name has been forwarded resides with the FHC or State High Court.”

He added that the responsibility of nominating candidates for elections exclusively belonged to political parties.

The court held that if INEC believed Adebutu was not qualified to contest the election, it ought to have approached a competent court for appropriate judicial determination rather than independently removing his name.

Justice Lifu consequently ordered the commission to correct the final list published on October 10, 2026, and include Adebutu as the PDP governorship candidate for Ogun State within 24 hours.

The court also declared that INEC could not validly announce the result of the 2027 Ogun State governorship election without the participation of the plaintiffs, warning that any such exercise would be unconstitutional and of no effect.