A Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was wrong to drop the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate’s name from the final list for the 2027 election. The court then ordered the commission to restore and publish his name within 24 hours.
Delivering judgment in suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026, Justice Peter Lifu resolved all four issues before him in favour of the PDP and Adebutu. The ruling puts the Ogun PDP candidate back on course for Oke Mosan and leaves his rivals facing a contest they had hoped to see without him.
On the first issue, the court held that Adebutu was denied a fair hearing by INEC before his name was left off the list published on 10 October. The court also rejected INEC’s attempt to use a Supreme Court judgment against him. Adebutu was not a party to that suit, the judge held, so he is not bound by its outcome.
On the second issue, the court held that INEC has no power to remove a candidate’s name on its own. If the commission believes a candidate should not be on the ballot, it must approach the court. This issue, too, went to Adebutu.
The third issue drew some of the sharpest language of the day. The matter is a pre-election one, and the court questioned why INEC waited about four months before saying Adebutu’s name was not in the party’s register, if it was so sure of its position. Justice Lifu described that delay as an absurdity and ruled again for the PDP candidate.
The fourth issue, on the submission of the PDP’s register, proved the most damaging to the commission. The court took into account INEC’s own conduct. The commission monitored Adebutu’s primary election and later released his name among its provisional list of candidates. On that record, the court found that the PDP had established that Adebutu is a registered member of the party in Ogun State. The judge wondered aloud whether INEC had now become the custodian of the PDP’s register. The court also found that INEC failed to provide actual proof that the flash drive submitted by the PDP had not been altered.
The court therefore directed INEC to immediately restore Adebutu’s name and publish it within 24 hours, the very relief the plaintiffs had asked for.
The ruling is a major reversal for a commission that told the court, through a counter-affidavit sworn by Mustapha Mohammed of its ICT Department, that Adebutu’s name could not be found in the register submitted by the PDP. INEC said only the name of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, appeared there.
The PDP told a different story at the 5 November hearing. National Organising Secretary Umar Bature testified, under examination by Ahmed Raji, SAN, that the flash drive the party submitted to INEC carried the full list of its candidates, Adebutu’s name included. He added that the drive INEC brought to court was not the silver one the party handed over. The party said it submitted a soft copy in line with the Electoral Act and paragraph 4(3) of Part 1 of INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties, 2026.
The PDP and Adebutu filed the suit on 22 October, asking for 11 reliefs. These included an order setting aside INEC’s decision to omit his name for denial of fair hearing and breach of sections 29 and 32 of the Electoral Act, 2026.
With the election billed for 6 February 2027, less than three months away, Adebutu’s camp can now campaign with the court’s order in hand and the clock running on INEC to comply. For Yayi, the ruling closes one door at the very moment questions over the unresolved APC primaries are being raised.
This is a developing story. INEC’s reaction is awaited.
