The Peoples Democratic Party has been left out of the final lists of governorship candidates published by the Independent National Electoral Commission for Ogun and Gombe states ahead of the February 6, 2027 elections.
The omission affects the party’s reported candidates in the two states, Ladi Adebutu in Ogun and former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, in Gombe, as well as their running mates.
INEC’s final list contains 13 governorship candidates in Ogun State and 16 in Gombe, but neither list features a PDP candidate.
In Ogun, the All Progressives Congress candidate, Solomon Adeola, appears on the list alongside his running mate, Kudirat Balogun. In Gombe, the APC is represented by Jamil Gwamna and his running mate, Balah Adams.
The development raises questions about the PDP’s participation in the two governorship contests, particularly as Pantami recently emerged from a fresh party primary in Gombe.
Pantami’s initial emergence as the PDP candidate had been challenged in court. A Federal High Court in Gombe ordered a fresh primary after nullifying the earlier exercise, and Pantami subsequently won the rerun conducted on September 29.
However, his name was missing from INEC’s final list despite his emergence from the fresh primary.
Adebutu’s omission has also drawn attention amid questions over his name’s inclusion in the PDP membership register submitted to the electoral commission. The Ogun PDP had rejected allegations that Adebutu was not a registered member, maintaining that it complied with the relevant membership-registration requirements.
The omissions come against the backdrop of a September 24 Supreme Court judgment on statutory requirements governing political parties’ membership registers and the nomination of candidates for elections.
The judgment has raised concerns about the eligibility of candidates whose parties may not have complied with the requirements for submitting membership registers to INEC.
Reports published on Saturday by Peoples Gazette linked the omissions of Adebutu and Pantami to the Supreme Court judgment. However, the final lists themselves do not provide a detailed explanation for the absence of the two candidates and their running mates.
INEC National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mohammed Haruna, had previously indicated that parties that failed to comply with the membership-register requirements would not be allowed to field affected candidates or substitute them.
Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 provides a procedure for a registered political party to notify INEC in writing, supported by an affidavit, where a nominated candidate’s name is missing from the published list.
The situation in Ogun and Gombe is not the only issue emerging from the publication of the final lists. INEC’s final list for Rivers State was also reported to be unavailable on its website alongside those of other states as of Saturday, although it was unclear whether the document had not been uploaded or would be published separately.
The commission’s final lists contain details of candidates, their political parties, running mates, ages, genders, qualifications and other relevant particulars.
The governorship and State House of Assembly elections are scheduled for February 6, 2027.
