Ladi Adebutu Challenges INEC After His Name Is Missing From Ogun Candidate List

Ladi Adebutu is asking a Federal High Court in Abuja to compel Nigeria’s electoral commission to recognise him as the PDP’s candidate for the 2027 Ogun State governorship election. The dispute centres on INEC’s decision to leave him off its final list of cleared contenders. In a counter-affidavit opposing the suit, INEC said its officials could not find Adebutu’s name in the membership register submitted by the PDP. The statement was made by Mustapha Mohammed, a chief program analyst in the commission’s information and communication technology department, according to the court filing. Mohammed said INEC searched the party’s submitted register before publishing the candidate list. He said the search located the name of the PDP’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, but did not produce Adebutu’s name or a possible match for it in the Ogun register. The commission also disputed the records attached to the plaintiffs’ court filings. According to the affidavit, the flash drives submitted by the PDP to INEC differed from the drives later presented in support of the case. Mohammed said the versions submitted to the commission contained differently named files and member serial-number ranges from those included with the plaintiffs’ papers. The PDP and Adebutu brought the case after INEC left him off the list of 13 candidates approved for the Ogun election, scheduled for February 6, 2027. They want the court to order the commission to reverse that decision and accept his candidacy. The suit is identified as FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026. INEC’s filing sets out the commission’s explanation for the omission, while the court will consider the competing claims over the party register and the records submitted.