The Independent National Electoral Commission has told the Federal High Court in Abuja that the name of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Ogun State governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, was missing from the party’s membership register submitted to the commission.
INEC disclosed this in a counter-affidavit filed in opposition to a suit instituted by the PDP and Adebutu, challenging the exclusion of his name from the final list of candidates for the February 6, 2027 governorship election.
In the affidavit deposed to by Mustapha Mohammed, a Chief Programme Analyst in INEC’s Information and Communication Technology Department, the commission said its verification exercise revealed that only the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, appeared in the membership register.
The commission maintained that it conducted due diligence before publishing the final list of candidates cleared for the election, adding that repeated searches of the register produced no match for Adebutu’s name.
According to INEC, the PDP submitted two flash drives containing its membership records alongside a hard-copy register, but none contained Adebutu’s name and personal details.
The commission also disputed the authenticity of the flash drive attached to the plaintiffs’ affidavit, claiming that its contents differed from the records originally submitted by the PDP.
INEC further explained that the first flash drive submitted on April 22, 2026, contained files named Ogun 01-038, while the second had files named Ogun 01-04.
It said the membership records contained 18,973 and 19,308 entries, respectively.
The commission also identified a discrepancy involving serial number 1536, which Adebutu allegedly claimed belonged to him.
INEC told the court that the number was assigned to another party member, Lugboso Sunday Seun, and not the PDP governorship candidate.
The commission had earlier omitted Adebutu’s name from the final list of 13 candidates cleared for the Ogun governorship election, prompting the PDP and its candidate to approach the court for an order compelling INEC to recognise his candidacy.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026, lists the PDP as the first plaintiff, Adebutu as the second plaintiff and INEC as the sole defendant.
Following the adoption of final addresses by the parties, Justice Peter Lifu fixed Friday for judgment.
Meanwhile, a Labour Party chieftain, Arabambi Abayomi, has alleged a plot to influence the outcome of the case and urged judicial authorities to ensure that the proceedings are not compromised.
In a statement made available to journalists, Abayomi accused Adebutu of perjury, alleging that the PDP candidate supplied false membership details in an affidavit filed in support of his suit.
He cited INEC’s claim that serial number 1536 belonged to Lugboso Sunday Seun rather than Adebutu, arguing that the discrepancy raised questions about the accuracy of the candidate’s court filings.
“For a litigant to approach the Federal High Court and swear to an affidavit containing demonstrably false particulars is perjury,” Abayomi said.
He also alleged that there was an attempt to circumvent a Supreme Court judgment relating to the enforcement of provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 on party membership registers and the nomination of candidates.
Abayomi called on the Attorney General of the Federation to investigate the alleged perjury and urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to examine claims of an attempt to influence the case.
