Nigeria 2027 Election Watch: INEC Explains The Exclusions And Sets A Deadline

The exclusions concern two prominent PDP governorship candidates: Isa Pantami in Gombe and Ladi Adebutu in Ogun. INEC says their names were left out because their parties did not meet membership-register requirements under Sections 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026. This matters because the published ballot field differs from the candidates the PDP intended to contest.

The immediate legal mechanism is a formal challenge under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act. A party that believes INEC wrongly omitted a candidate must notify the Commission. INEC identified April 21 to May 10, 2026, as the relevant membership-register submission window, and linked its explanation to the Supreme Court’s September 24 judgment.

The deadline is October 24, 2026. Until the dispute is resolved through the appropriate process, Pantami and Adebutu remain absent from the published governorship lists. Their lawyers and party maintain that the exclusions were unjustified, so ballot access remains uncertain in both contests.

A political party membership register is an official record identifying the people recognised as members of a party. The source text does not provide a full definition, but this is the standard meaning in electoral administration. It matters because membership records help establish whether a party has followed the legal process for selecting and sponsoring candidates.

Nigeria’s Electoral Act 2026 requires parties to submit these registers within a prescribed period. INEC identified that period as April 21 to May 10, 2026. The Commission says failure to comply with Sections 77(5)-(7) formed the legal basis for excluding Isa Pantami and Ladi Adebutu from the published governorship lists.

The requirement therefore affects ballot access, not merely party paperwork. INEC relied on the Supreme Court’s September 24 judgment, which upheld the need for timely submission. Parties disputing an omission can still challenge INEC under Section 32(2) by October 24, 2026.

The article identifies two immediately affected governorship contests: Gombe in the North-East and Ogun in the South-West. Isa Pantami’s exclusion affects the PDP’s intended nomination in Gombe, while Ladi Adebutu’s omission affects its preparations in Ogun. The issue is whether those candidates can appear on the ballot, not evidence of their voter support.

INEC says both omissions arose from failures to comply with membership-register requirements under Sections 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026. The Commission identified April 21 to May 10, 2026, as the submission window. It also provided a challenge route under Section 32(2), requiring parties to notify INEC if they believe candidates were wrongly omitted.

The next major milestone is October 24, 2026, the challenge deadline. Until the disputes are resolved, the published governorship fields in Gombe and Ogun remain different from the PDP’s intended fields. Rivers faces a separate scrutiny issue involving APC candidate Kingsley Chinda.

When INEC leaves a nominated candidate off its official list, the party’s intended candidate is not part of the published governorship field. That creates ballot-access uncertainty and can disrupt campaign preparations. The article stresses that the dispute concerns whether the candidate may contest, not whether voters support that candidate.

Gombe illustrates the mechanism. INEC excluded Isa Pantami after citing membership-register failures under Sections 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026. Pantami’s lawyers disputed INEC’s authority and demanded reinstatement. Ogun presents the same practical problem for Ladi Adebutu, while the PDP maintains that he met the membership requirements.

The omission is not necessarily the final word because the party can challenge it under Section 32(2). It must notify INEC by October 24, 2026. Until then, the published list remains different from the party’s intended field, leaving campaign organisation and ballot access unresolved.

The Supreme Court’s September 24 judgment gives INEC’s explanation a specific legal foundation. According to the article, the Court upheld the requirement that parties submit their membership registers within the prescribed period. INEC therefore connected the exclusions in Gombe and Ogun to an existing judicially upheld obligation.

The relevant period was April 21 to May 10, 2026. INEC says failures involving Sections 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act 2026 led to Isa Pantami and Ladi Adebutu being omitted from the published governorship lists. The ruling does not itself name those candidates in the article, but it supports the legal principle INEC applied.

Timing also matters. INEC published its final presidential and National Assembly lists on September 12, before the judgment. The Commission noted that sequence and has not announced a wholesale revision of those earlier lists. Affected parties can still contest INEC’s interpretation through Section 32(2).

A party that believes INEC wrongly omitted its candidate has a formal administrative route. It must notify the Commission under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act. This turns the dispute from public speculation into a defined legal and administrative challenge over whether the candidate should be restored to the official list.

The party would argue that INEC misapplied the membership-register rules or wrongly assessed compliance. In Ogun, the PDP maintains that Ladi Adebutu complied with the requirements. In Gombe, Isa Pantami’s lawyers have disputed INEC’s authority to exclude him and demanded reinstatement. These positions illustrate the kind of disagreement the notification process must address.

The deadline is October 24, 2026. Until a challenge is resolved through the appropriate process, the candidates remain absent from the published governorship fields. The article does not state what decision INEC will make after receiving a notification, so the final outcome remains unresolved.

Presidential campaign cooperation is an organisational arrangement. Politicians or organisations from different parties may participate in one campaign structure while keeping their own party identities. A formal merger would combine parties into one political organisation, but the article says the APC arrangement is not a merger. Separate parties can retain their identities and contest other elections independently.

The inauguration supplied concrete examples. Nyesom Wike coordinates Rivers and the FCT, Ademola Adeleke coordinates Osun, and Chukwuma Soludo coordinates Anambra within the APC presidential campaign council. Their participation demonstrates cooperation, while Accord and APGA remain separate. It does not establish that every supporter of those politicians will vote APC.

The article provides no credible new voter-preference evidence showing the electoral effect of the inauguration. The practical question for opposition parties is how these presidential alliances interact with separate governorship and legislative contests. Organisational reach and voter support therefore remain distinct matters.