The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has excluded at least four governorship candidates from its final list over alleged non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
The affected candidates are Isa Ali Pantami of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Gombe State; Oladipupo Adebutu of the PDP in Ogun State; Abdulsalam Gwarzo of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kano State; and Danjuma La’ah of the NDC in Kaduna State.
The commission’s decision was reportedly based on the Supreme Court’s September 24 judgment on the Electoral Act, which requires political parties to comply with stipulated membership registration procedures.
The affected candidates were said to be missing from the electronic membership registers submitted by their respective parties to INEC 21 days before their primaries, as required by law.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has also alleged that four of its candidates were omitted from the final list.
The development has triggered concerns among the affected candidates and their political parties, with the PDP giving INEC 48 hours to explain the reasons for the exclusion, warning that it would announce its next line of action if the commission failed to respond.
However, a top INEC source maintained that the decision was in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment.
The source explained that the commission reviewed the provisional lists of governorship candidates alongside the electronic membership registers submitted by the political parties.
According to the source, the affected candidates failed to meet the legal requirements for eligibility because their names could not be found in the membership registers of the parties that nominated them.
The source further attributed the development to the wave of defections and political realignments, noting that some politicians failed to comply with the statutory timelines for party membership registration.
The governorship election is scheduled to hold on February 6, 2027.
