The Independent National Electoral Commission has reportedly omitted some governorship candidates from its final list for the 2027 elections because their names were missing from their parties’ electronic membership registers submitted within the timeframe prescribed by law.
The affected candidates include Isa Ali Pantami of the Peoples Democratic Party in Gombe State, Oladipupo Adebutu of the PDP in Ogun, Abdulsalam Gwarzo of the Nigeria Democratic Congress in Kano and Danjuma La’ah of the NDC in Kaduna.
An INEC source attributed the decision to the Supreme Court’s September 24 judgment on the Electoral Act 2026, which upheld provisions requiring political parties to submit their membership registers at least 21 days before primaries, congresses or conventions.
The source said the commission reviewed the provisional candidates’ lists alongside party registers and found that some candidates did not meet the statutory requirements. The Social Democratic Party also reported that four of its candidates were omitted.
The Supreme Court had set aside an earlier Court of Appeal judgment that voided provisions of the Electoral Act challenged by the Zenith Labour Party. It affirmed the constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2), which regulate party membership registers and participation in primaries. Under Section 77(7), a party that fails to submit its register within the required period is barred from fielding candidates in the affected election.
However, the affected candidates and their parties have challenged the omissions. Kaduna NDC Chairman Mordecai Ibrahim blamed La’ah’s exclusion on errors during the online registration process, alleging that network failures and repeated registration attempts caused a mix-up in the names submitted to INEC. The candidates have vowed to challenge the commission’s decision.
Pantami’s legal team also wrote to INEC on October 12, describing his omission as unlawful and demanding that his name be restored. The lawyers said he was a registered PDP member, won the party’s May 26 governorship primary, and emerged victorious again in a fresh primary held on September 29 after a Federal High Court nullified the earlier exercise. They maintained that INEC had received his particulars and that only a court could remove a validly nominated candidate.
The PDP also gave INEC 48 hours to explain why Adebutu and Pantami were excluded from the final list, warning that it could pursue legal action if the explanation was unsatisfactory. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said the candidates had fulfilled the nomination requirements and questioned why their names had been published earlier but later omitted. He said the party had formally written to the commission.
The governorship candidates’ omissions have heightened uncertainty within the affected parties ahead of the election scheduled for February 6, 2027. While INEC sources insist the commission acted in line with the law and the Supreme Court judgment, the PDP maintains that its candidates met the relevant requirements and is seeking clarification before deciding on its next steps.
