INEC Drops Pantami, Adebutu and Others From Final Governorship List as Supreme Court Ruling Bites

By Trending9ja Staff • October 11, 2026 • 4 min read

Photo: Legit.ng

INEC has released its final list of governorship candidates for the 6 February 2027 elections, and several big names are missing. According to Legit.ng, those dropped include Isa Pantami (PDP, Gombe), Ladi Adebutu and his running mate (PDP, Ogun) and Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo (NDC, Kano). In Bauchi, the candidates of the SDP, NNPP, Action Alliance and Accord Party were all removed.

The reason behind it: On 24 September the Supreme Court restored sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, which the Court of Appeal had struck down in July. The provisions bar candidates from primaries unless their names are on a membership register submitted to INEC on time.

Pantami's nomination was nullified by a Federal High Court in Gombe on 24 September for breaching PDP procedures. He won a repeat primary on 29 September, but his name still did not appear on INEC's list. In Ogun, two civil society groups said Adebutu was missing from the PDP membership register sent to INEC, which the Ogun PDP denies. The PDP now has no listed candidate in Ogun. INEC's published documents gave no reasons for the omissions.

Adebutu has vowed to challenge his omission, Vanguard reports, while Ogun PDP urged calm and Shehu Sani urged candidates left off the lists to stop litigation. Legit.ng also published the final lists for Lagos (17 candidates), Ogun (13) and Oyo (16).

Sources: Legit.ng: Full list of governorship candidates dropped by INEC · Vanguard: Adebutu vows to challenge omission