The commission’s final lists, published on Saturday, October 10, 2026, did not include Pantami, Adebutu or their respective running mates.
INEC’s list contains 16 governorship candidates for Gombe State and 13 for Ogun State, with no PDP candidate listed in either state.
The commission’s documents did not specify the reasons for the omissions.
The development comes amid controversy over compliance with statutory requirements governing political party membership registers and the eligibility of candidates for party primaries.
On September 24, 2026, the Supreme Court restored provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to political party membership registers and candidate nomination procedures.
The ruling reinstated Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Act, which the Court of Appeal had previously nullified.
The provisions require political parties to comply with statutory requirements for submitting membership registers to INEC before conducting primaries, congresses and conventions. They also restrict participation in party primaries to eligible members whose names appear in the duly submitted register.
The judgment has raised questions about the eligibility of some party nominees ahead of the 2027 general elections, although INEC has not publicly stated whether the ruling directly informed its decision to omit Pantami and Adebutu.
Meanwhile, INEC has listed Kingsley Ogundu Chinda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a candidate for the 2027 Rivers State governorship election.
Chinda, a member of the House of Representatives and an ally of Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike, previously belonged to the PDP before moving to the APC.
His inclusion has attracted attention amid questions about the application of the Supreme Court judgment to candidates who changed political parties and their eligibility under the membership-register requirements.
Reports indicate that Chinda registered with the APC on April 27, 2026, before the party’s governorship primary on May 21. He formally announced his defection from the PDP to the APC on June 2.
The key question concerns whether his name appeared in the APC membership register submitted to INEC within the required statutory period. His inclusion on the final list has not, by itself, publicly clarified how the commission assessed that issue.
The Supreme Court ruling has placed renewed emphasis on compliance with the Electoral Act, particularly the submission of party membership registers and the conduct of internal party elections.
As political parties prepare for the 2027 elections, the omissions in Gombe and Ogun, alongside questions surrounding other candidates, are likely to intensify scrutiny of INEC’s application of the statutory requirements.
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of News PLATFORM or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!