INEC reviews petitions, clears Pantami, rejects Adebutu’s complaint over 2027 election list

INEC revised its final candidate lists for the 2027 governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections. It added candidates and political parties whose complaints had merit. It also removed names that were wrongly published or failed to meet legal requirements. This matters because the lists determine which candidates and parties can appear in the elections.

The complaints involved omitted parties, candidates whose names were missing from their parties’ submitted membership registers, and alleged multiple nominations. INEC reviewed the petitions, relevant records, and applicable legal provisions. It then approved some inclusions and rejected complaints without merit. Some wrongly included candidates were removed after verification.

The updated lists will be published on INEC’s website. For governorship elections, 41 of 69 petitions succeeded. For State Houses of Assembly elections, 25 of 61 succeeded. The changes therefore affect the choices available to voters before the elections scheduled for January and February 2027.

An electoral petition is a formal complaint submitted by a candidate or political party about an election-related decision or record. In this case, petitions challenged INEC’s final lists of governorship and State Houses of Assembly candidates. They gave affected parties and candidates a way to ask the commission to review possible errors or legal problems before the election.

The article identifies several grounds. A party might have been omitted from the list. A candidate might have been wrongly included, especially if the person’s name was absent from the party’s membership register. Complaints also alleged multiple nominations. INEC examined each representation alongside relevant records and legal provisions.

A petition does not guarantee a change. INEC accepted only complaints it found meritorious and rejected the rest. Its review changed some names and party entries. The process can therefore correct published lists while keeping legal requirements central to candidate eligibility.

INEC received 69 petitions concerning governorship elections. They came from 12 political parties across 26 states. The commission accepted 41 of those petitions and rejected 28 because they failed on their merits. These figures show that a majority of the governorship complaints led to some approved change.

For State Houses of Assembly elections, INEC received 61 petitions from 11 political parties across 11 states. It accepted 25 and rejected 36. Across both election categories, the commission handled 130 petitions, accepting 66 and rejecting 64. The decisions followed publication of the final lists on 10 October.

The figures cover petitions reviewed by INEC, not necessarily every possible dispute about the elections. The commission said it assessed complaints against records and applicable legal provisions. It will reflect the accepted changes in updated lists on its website, while some decisions may remain affected by court cases.

INEC accepted Isa Pantami’s petition but rejected Ladi Adebutu’s request for a review of his exclusion. The commission’s spokesperson, Mohammed Haruna, confirmed both outcomes to TheCable. Pantami is the PDP governorship candidate in Gombe State, while Adebutu is the party’s candidate in Ogun State. Both had been excluded from INEC’s original final list.

The article does not provide a separate explanation of the evidence behind each individual decision. It states the general process: INEC reviewed complaints, relevant records, and applicable legal provisions. It approved complaints it found meritorious and declined those without merit. That process produced different outcomes for Pantami and Adebutu.

Pantami’s inclusion is not final in practical terms because a court case remains pending. Haruna said the inclusion depends on the outcome of the court case. Adebutu’s request was rejected during this review phase, so the article does not report his restoration to the Ogun list.

Pantami’s successful petition does not settle his candidacy permanently. INEC spokesperson Mohammed Haruna said Pantami’s inclusion was successful but subject to the outcome of a pending court case. This means the updated list can still be affected by a judicial decision connected to his eligibility or his party’s nomination.

The article links the dispute to the Supreme Court’s restoration of Electoral Act provisions. Those provisions require parties to submit membership registers to INEC and limit participation in primaries to members listed in those registers. The article does not state the exact ruling that the pending case may deliver, so it does not specify the precise legal consequence.

If the court decision goes against Pantami or the PDP on the relevant issue, his inclusion could be reversed and he could lose the opportunity to contest the Gombe governorship election. Until the case is resolved, his place remains conditional rather than fully secure.

A political party’s membership register matters because it records the members eligible to participate in the party’s primary election. Under the provisions cited in the article, parties must submit these registers to INEC within the required period. Only members whose names appear on the submitted register may participate in party primaries.

This rule connects internal party selection with eligibility for the general election. INEC said some complaints involved candidates whose names were not contained in their parties’ submitted membership registers. It also removed names from the published list after verifying that the candidates were not on the register. The Supreme Court upheld the timetable for submitting registers from 21 April to 10 May 2026.

A party that misses the submission deadline is ineligible to field candidates under Section 77(7), according to the article. The register can therefore determine whether a primary participant’s nomination survives INEC’s review and appears on the final election list.

The system described in the article has several connected stages. A political party submits its membership register, and eligible members participate in its primary. The party then submits its nominated candidates to INEC. The commission checks the nominations against records and legal requirements before publishing a final list.

INEC’s petition review provides another correction stage. Candidates and parties can challenge omissions, wrongful inclusions, or nomination problems. The commission may add eligible candidates, remove wrongly listed names, or reject complaints. Courts remain involved because judicial decisions can restore legal provisions or affect whether a candidate stays on the list. Pantami’s inclusion is expressly subject to a pending case.

Only candidates on the effective final list can present themselves to voters in the general election. If a party fails to submit its register, it cannot field candidates under Section 77(7). The process therefore shapes voters’ choices before the governorship elections on 6 February 2027 and the presidential and National Assembly elections on 16 January.