By Samuel Olusegun Precious
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has rejected the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, the Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate in Kano State, Aminu Gwarzo.
Adebutu and Gwarzo’s petitions were among the 64 rejected by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday.
However, former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy and Gombe State PDP governorship candidate, Isa Ali Pantami, was cleared by the electoral commission for the 2027 election.
INEC sources on Thursday night, said Adebutu’s and Gwarzo’s candidacies remained uncertain following the review of complaints over the final lists of candidates for the 2027 governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
The INEC source confirmed that Pantami had been cleared to contest in Gombe State.
Speaking on Adebutu, the source said his name was not included in the list because it was not on the list of candidates submitted to INEC by his party.
“His petition was rejected because his name was not included in the list of candidates originally submitted to INEC by the PDP,” the source said.
On Gwarzo, the INEC official further said the Kano Deputy Governor would have made the list but for an ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court, which barred INEC from publishing his name.
“He would have scaled through, but unfortunately, there was an ex parte order from the Federal High Court barring INEC from publishing his name. That was the reason he was not cleared,” the source added.
The source said INEC would publish the updated list of candidates for the elections by Friday.
INEC had, on October 10, 2026, published the names of presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates on its website.
Following the development, the names of Adebutu, Pantami, Gwarzo, among others were missing.
In a statement issued on Thursday night and signed by the Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, the Commission said it upheld 66 petitions challenging the final lists and rejected 64 others.
The petitions followed complaints bordering on omission of political parties, inclusion of candidates whose names were absent from their parties’ membership registers as required by the Supreme Court judgement reinstating Sections 77(5)(6)(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, and alleged multiple nominations.
Haruna said: “Following a review of the complaints, relevant records and applicable legal provisions, the commission found merit in some representations and approved the inclusion of affected candidates and their political parties, while complaints found to be without merit were declined.”
