The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Friday for judgment in a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship aspirant, Oladipupo Adebutu, seeking an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise him as the party’s candidate for the 2027 Ogun State governorship election.
Justice Peter Lifu fixed the date after parties concluded their cases, presented witnesses and adopted their final written addresses in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026.
The PDP and Adebutu instituted the suit on October 22, following the omission of the former governorship candidate’s name from INEC’s final list of candidates published on October 10. 
The plaintiffs, through their counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ahmed Raji, listed INEC as the sole defendant and sought six questions for determination and 11 reliefs.
They urged the court to nullify the commission’s decision to exclude Adebutu’s name, arguing that the action violated his right to fair hearing and contravened Sections 29 and 32 of the Electoral Act 2026.
Among other reliefs, they asked the court to compel INEC to include Adebutu’s name as the PDP governorship candidate in Ogun State within 24 hours.
However, INEC opposed the suit, insisting that Adebutu’s name was not contained in the register of party members submitted to the commission by the PDP.
In a counter-affidavit deposed to by Mustapha Mohammed, a Chief Programme Analyst in INEC’s Information and Communication Technology Department, the commission said its records showed only the name of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, in the submitted register.
At the November 5 hearing, both parties presented witnesses to substantiate their respective claims.
Testifying for the PDP, the party’s National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, told the court that Adebutu’s name was included in the flash drive containing the list of candidates submitted to INEC.
Bature, while being led in evidence by Raji, insisted that the party submitted the former governorship candidate’s name to the commission.
He also disputed the colour of the flash drive presented by INEC, maintaining that the device submitted by the PDP was silver.
Bature further told the court that the party submitted only an electronic copy of its candidates’ list through the flash drive, in compliance with the Electoral Act and Paragraph 4(3) of Part I of INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2026.
However, Mohammed, who testified for INEC, maintained that Adebutu’s name was missing from the list submitted by the PDP.
He also disputed the party’s account of the submission process, insisting that the PDP submitted both hard and electronic copies of its candidates’ list to the commission.
The judgment will determine whether INEC acted lawfully in excluding Adebutu from its final list of candidates for the 2027 Ogun governorship election and whether the commission can be compelled to recognise him as the PDP flag bearer.
