INEC Opens a Fresh Window for Candidates Dropped From the 2027 Governorship List

The Independent National Electoral Commission has issued a formal public clarification explaining why certain candidates are absent from the final list for the 2027 governorship elections — and it has given affected political parties until 24 October 2026 to formally contest those exclusions.

The statement, signed on 13 October 2026 by National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, traces the omissions directly to a Supreme Court judgment delivered on 24 September 2026. The case — INEC v. Zenith Labour Party (Appeal No. SC/CV/495/2026) — settled a dispute that had been working its way through the courts over the legal force of membership register requirements embedded in the Electoral Act, 2026.

What the Supreme Court Actually Decided

The case began after a Court of Appeal struck down sections 77(5) to 77(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026. Those provisions make the submission of a party’s membership register a precondition for conducting valid primaries. INEC appealed, and the Supreme Court sided with the Commission, restoring the provisions in full and declaring them both constitutional and binding on every registered political party in Nigeria.

The court went further, affirming the validity of Item 2 of INEC’s Timetable and Schedule of Activities, which set a specific window — 21 April to 10 May 2026 — for parties to submit their membership registers. Any party that missed that window, the court ruled, forfeits the right to field candidates at the relevant election. The ruling left no room for negotiation.

Acting under Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which obliges all authorities and persons to comply with Supreme Court decisions, INEC applied the judgment when compiling the final governorship candidate list. Parties that had not submitted their registers within the prescribed period were removed. The Commission had no discretion in the matter — the Constitution and the court’s order required compliance.

One important distinction is worth noting. The final list of Presidential and National Assembly candidates had already been published on 12 September 2026, thirteen days before the Supreme Court delivered its ruling. Those lists were therefore unaffected by the judgment, which explains why the governorship list alone carries the visible impact of the court’s decision.

Under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, any political party that believes its candidate was wrongly excluded has 14 days from the date of publication of the governorship list to formally notify the Commission. That deadline falls on 24 October 2026. Parties that miss it will have exhausted their administrative recourse with INEC.

Among the more prominent casualties of the exclusion is Ladi Adebutu, the PDP’s governorship candidate for Ogun State, who does not appear on the final list alongside his running mate. The omission throws the PDP’s entire governorship campaign in Ogun State into serious doubt and raises immediate questions about whether the party submitted its membership register within the stipulated period.

INEC, for its part, has stated that it remains committed to transparency and the rule of law. Whether affected parties view that commitment as credible will depend largely on how the Commission handles any formal challenges lodged before the 24 October deadline. The clock is already running.