The fate of the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, and that of the Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate in Kano State, Aminu Gwarzo, remains uncertain as their petitions were among the 64 rejected by the Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday.
However, the candidacy of former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy and Gombe State PDP governorship candidate, Isa Ali Pantami, was cleared by the electoral commission for the 2027 election.
A source in INEC, who spoke to The PUNCH on Thursday night on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the matter, said Adebutu’s and Gwarzo’s candidacies remained uncertain following the review of complaints over the final lists of candidates for the 2027 governorship and State House of Assembly elections.
He confirmed that Pantami had been cleared to contest in Gombe State.
Speaking on Adebutu, the source said his name was not included in the list because it was not on the list of candidates submitted to INEC by his party.
“His petition was rejected because his name was not included in the list of candidates originally submitted to INEC by the PDP,” the source said.
On Gwarzo, he said the deputy governor would have made the list but for an ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court, which barred INEC from publishing his name.
He added that Gwarzo’s clearance remained subject to the outcome of the litigation over his candidacy.
“He would have scaled through, but unfortunately, there was an ex parte order from the Federal High Court barring INEC from publishing his name. That was the reason he was not cleared,” the source added.
The source said INEC would publish the updated list of candidates for the elections by Friday (today).
INEC had, on October 10, 2026, published the names of presidential, National Assembly, governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates on its website.
Following the development, the names of Adebutu, Pantami, Gwarzo, among others were missing.
A statement issued on Thursday night and signed by the Chairman of INEC’s Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna, said the electoral commission upheld 66 petitions challenging the final lists of governorship and state Houses of Assembly candidates for the 2027 general elections and rejected 64 others.
The petitions followed the publication of the final lists of candidates on October 10, 2026, with complaints bordering on the omission of political parties, the inclusion of candidates whose names were absent from their parties’ membership registers and alleged multiple nominations.
