Court orders INEC to recognise Adebutu as PDP’s 2027 Ogun governorship candidate

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Oladipupo Adebutu as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for the 2027 Ogun State election.

The court also directed the electoral commission to publish Adebutu’s name as the party’s duly nominated candidate within 24 hours, following its ruling on Friday.

The judgment, delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, held that INEC lacked the constitutional and statutory authority to unilaterally remove the name of a candidate validly nominated by a political party.

The judge described the commission’s action in excluding Adebutu from its published list of candidates as unconstitutional, unlawful and of no legal effect.

The ruling followed a legal battle between the PDP, Adebutu and INEC over the omission of the politician’s name from the commission’s list of candidates for the forthcoming governorship election.

Adebutu and the PDP had approached the court after INEC published its final list of contestants in October without including his name and that of his running mate.

The plaintiffs argued that the commission’s decision violated the Electoral Act 2026 and denied the party and its candidate a fair hearing.

They subsequently instituted the suit on October 22, 2026, seeking an order compelling INEC to recognise Adebutu as the party’s candidate and publish his name within 24 hours.

The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026, was filed through their counsel, Ahmed Raji, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

During the proceedings, INEC maintained that Adebutu’s name was missing from the register of party members submitted by the PDP to the commission.

READ ALSO; INEC: Why we excluded Adebutu from Ogun 2027 governorship candidates’ list

In a counter-affidavit, Mustapha Mohammed, a Chief Programme Analyst in INEC’s Information and Communication Technology Department, told the court that the commission could not find Adebutu’s name in the submitted register.

He explained that the name of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, was found in the register, but Adebutu’s was missing.

However, the PDP’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, disputed INEC’s position, insisting that Adebutu’s name was included in the flash drive containing the party’s list of candidates submitted to the electoral commission.

Bature also raised questions about the flash drives presented by both parties, claiming that the device submitted by the PDP was silver in colour, unlike the one tendered by INEC before the court.

He maintained that the party complied with the applicable electoral guidelines by submitting its candidates’ list electronically.

INEC’s witness, however, insisted that Adebutu’s name was not contained in the documents submitted by the party.

Following the presentation of evidence and adoption of final written addresses by the parties, Justice Lifu fixed November 13 for judgment.

Friday’s ruling now places an obligation on INEC to publish Adebutu’s name within the 24-hour timeframe stipulated by the court.

The judgment represents a major development in the PDP’s preparations for the 2027 Ogun governorship election, with the commission’s compliance now central to the implementation of the court’s directive.

The full terms of the judgment and any subsequent response by INEC were not immediately available.