Nigeria's electoral body drops two PDP governorship candidates
Isa Pantami in Gombe and Ladi Adebutu in Ogun are missing from the final list for February's elections. INEC has given no reasons.
Abuja — Nigeria's electoral commission has published its final list of candidates for next year's governorship elections, leaving out two prominent contenders from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Premium Times reports.
Isa Pantami, the party's candidate in Gombe, and Ladi Adebutu, its candidate in Ogun, do not appear. Adebutu's running mate is also missing, which leaves the party with no listed candidate for governor in Ogun.
The elections are due on 6 February 2027.
No reason given
The commission's documents do not say why any candidate was left out.
The newspaper links the omissions to a Supreme Court judgment of 24 September, which restored parts of the Electoral Act that a lower court had struck down. Under one of them, only members whose names are on a party register submitted to the commission in time may take part in that party's primaries.
In Adebutu's case, groups in Ogun had alleged that his name was not on the register the party submitted. The party in the state rejected that and said he was a duly registered member.
In Pantami's case, a federal court in Gombe annulled his first nomination on 24 September and ordered a fresh primary. He won it again five days later.
One who stayed on
Kingsley Chinda, an ally of Nyesom Wike, is listed as the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Rivers. Questions have been raised about his eligibility too, because he announced his move from the PDP after the ruling party's primary had been held. The party in Rivers says his candidacy is valid.
The field
The lists run from eight candidates in Cross River to 20 in Akwa Ibom. Eight states hold their governorship elections at other times and are not included.
This report is based on reporting by Premium Times.
