Court Gives INEC 24 Hours To Reinstate Adebutu As Ogun PDP Governorship Candidate

The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to revive the identify of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, to its listing of candidates for the 2027 election inside 24 hours.

The courtroom dominated that INEC acted exterior its constitutional and statutory powers when it excluded Adebutu from the listing with out affording him a possibility to defend himself.

Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Peter Lifu held that the fee couldn’t independently disqualify a candidate validly nominated by a political social gathering.

The choose consequently described Adebutu’s elimination from the listing as illegal, unconstitutional and with out authorized impact.

He maintained that the authority to disqualify a candidate whose identify had been submitted by a political social gathering “resides with the Federal High Court or State High Court.”

The ruling adopted a swimsuit filed by the PDP and Adebutu after INEC omitted the previous’s identify from its remaining listing of governorship candidates revealed on October 10, 2026.

Before contemplating the substantive points, Justice Lifu dismissed INEC’s preliminary objection difficult the competence of the swimsuit.

He held that the originating summons was validly signed by a senior counsel and contained the names of different legal professionals in his legislation agency, making the method competent earlier than the courtroom.

In figuring out the substantive matter, the courtroom examined whether or not INEC violated Adebutu’s proper to truthful listening to, whether or not it had the authorized authority to disqualify him unilaterally and whether or not it might take away his identify from the candidates’ listing.

In his argument earlier than the courtroom, Adebutu stated he participated within the 2019 Ogun governorship election and was additionally the PDP’s flagbearer within the 2023 contest.

He defined that he took half within the social gathering’s main election for the 2027 governorship ballot and emerged as its candidate on May 24, 2026.

According to him, the PDP subsequently revealed his identify on August 29, 2026, with none objection being raised in opposition to his nomination.

However, Adebutu stated he was stunned to find that his identify was lacking when INEC launched the ultimate listing of candidates in October.

The plaintiffs additional informed the courtroom that the PDP and its National Secretary wrote to the electoral fee on October 14, requesting a reversal of the choice, however INEC did not act on their demand.

The social gathering’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, who testified as the primary prosecution witness, confirmed that Adebutu was a registered member of the PDP.

Bature informed the courtroom that Adebutu’s identify was contained within the social gathering’s membership register submitted to INEC on April 22, 2026, by way of a flash drive.

He stated the register contained greater than 30,000 members and that Adebutu was the primary particular person to register with the social gathering on February 24, 2026.

The witness maintained that Adebutu’s membership of the PDP had by no means been contested.

However, INEC’s witness, Mustapha Mohammed, a programme analyst with the fee, gave a distinct account.

Mohammed informed the courtroom {that a} search performed earlier than the publication of the ultimate candidates’ listing didn’t present Adebutu’s identify within the PDP membership register.

He, nonetheless, confirmed that the identify of Adebutu’s working mate was discovered within the register.

During cross-examination, the INEC official admitted that he was not the officer who obtained the flash drive from the PDP and couldn’t independently confirm its precise contents.

After reviewing the proof, Justice Lifu held that INEC failed to ascertain that Adebutu’s identify was absent from the membership register submitted by the social gathering.

The choose additionally criticised the fee for failing to problem the conduct of the May 24 main election inside the interval stipulated by legislation.

He stated, “As far as I know, no person filed any suit to challenge Adebutu 14 days after the conduct of the poll. It was baffling that INEC waited until August.”

Justice Lifu warned that permitting INEC to train powers exterior its statutory mandate might create room for arbitrary disqualification of candidates, even shortly earlier than an election.

He stated, “If this is not resolved, there will be a day that INEC will disqualify a candidate a day to election. This must not be allowed. This would be an absurdity.”

Reiterating the boundaries of the fee’s authority, the choose said, “INEC does not have the power to remove names or disqualify any candidate on its own. The power to disqualify a candidate after the name has been forwarded resides with the FHC or State high Court.”

He additional emphasised the unique position of political events in deciding on their candidates, saying, “The power to nominate a candidate for an election exclusively belongs to a political party, and the exercise of that power is within a party.”

The choose added that if INEC had considerations about Adebutu’s eligibility to contest the election, the fee must have approached a courtroom of competent jurisdiction slightly than independently eradicating his identify.

Consequently, Justice Lifu ordered INEC to appropriate the ultimate listing revealed on October 10, 2026, and embody Adebutu because the PDP’s governorship candidate inside 24 hours.

The courtroom additionally declared that INEC couldn’t validly announce the end result of the 2027 Ogun governorship election with out the participation of the plaintiffs.

Warning in regards to the authorized penalties of excluding them from the electoral course of, the choose held that “the election shall be of no effect and unconstitutional.”