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Nigeria’s opposition parties are awaiting a response from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after submitting petitions over the exclusion of several candidates from the published lists for the 2027 general elections.
The development has placed the commission at the centre of a growing dispute over candidate eligibility, electoral procedures and compliance with the Electoral Act 2026. Among those affected are former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Pantami, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Ladi Adebutu and several candidates of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
The dispute followed INEC’s publication of its final list of governorship candidates on October 10. The commission subsequently gave political parties 14 days to report candidates they believed had been wrongly omitted, setting October 24 as the deadline for submitting complaints.
The PDP and other affected parties say they met the deadline and submitted the necessary petitions. They are seeking clarification and, where applicable, corrections to the published lists. However, submitting a petition does not automatically mean that a candidate will be reinstated.
INEC has linked the exclusions to statutory requirements concerning political party membership registers. On September 24, the Supreme Court upheld provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 requiring parties to submit their membership registers within the prescribed period and use the appropriate register for their primaries.
Pantami’s name was omitted despite his emergence as the PDP’s governorship candidate in Gombe State following a court-ordered rerun of the party primary. Adebutu, the PDP’s candidate in Ogun State, was also affected. Other complaints concern candidates in Kano, Kaduna, Benue and Nasarawa states.
The controversy has raised questions about how electoral regulations should be applied and what remedies are available when parties dispute the omission of their candidates. The affected politicians maintain that their cases deserve consideration, while INEC must ensure that any decision complies with the law and relevant court judgments.
According to a report published by Independent Newspaper Nigeria on October 26, the commission was expected to consider the petitions at a meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 29. As of October 27, no final decision had been publicly announced.
The outcome could influence the governorship contests in several states and determine whether the affected candidates remain eligible to contest under their respective parties.
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