THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given political parties until October 24, 2026, to notify it of alleged errors involving candidates omitted from its final list for the 2027 governorship elections.
INEC announced the deadline in a statement on Tuesday by its National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Mohammed Haruna.
The commission said the 14-day window was provided under Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which allows political parties to notify it if they believe their candidates were wrongly excluded from the published list.
The deadline follows controversy over the exclusion of several candidates from the list published by the commission, with affected parties demanding explanations and threatening legal action to secure their candidates’ inclusion.
Among the affected candidates are the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship, Oladipupo Adebutu in Ogun State and former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, a professor, in Gombe State.
Also missing is the Nigeria Democratic Congress governorship candidate in Kano State, Aminu Gwarzo. In Jigawa State, the African Democratic Congress has protested the omission of its deputy governorship candidate, Aminu Ringim, and several others.
Explaining the omissions, Haruna said its decision followed the Supreme Court’s September 24, 2026, judgment in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, appeal number SC/CV/495/2026.
He said that the judgment upheld the constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which require political parties to submit their membership registers to the commission within the stipulated period and use the registers for their primaries, congresses and conventions.
According to Haruna, the apex court also upheld Item 2 of its timetable and schedule of activities, which required political parties to submit their membership registers between April 21 and May 10, 2026.
The INEC Committee Chairman said the court ruled that compliance with the provisions was mandatory and that parties that failed to meet the requirements were ineligible to sponsor candidates for the elections.
Haruna explained that it applied the judgment when preparing the final governorship candidates’ list, excluding parties that failed to comply with the membership-register requirements, noting that the action was consistent with Section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which requires authorities to enforce decisions of the courts.
He urged affected political parties to notify it of any alleged wrongful exclusion within the stipulated period.
Haruna however, noted that the final lists of presidential and National Assembly candidates had been published on September 12, 2026, 13 days before the Supreme Court delivered its judgment.
It said the October 24 deadline applied to parties seeking corrections to the governorship candidates’ list.
The controversy has heightened concerns over the implications of the Supreme Court ruling for political parties and their candidates ahead of the February 6, 2027, governorship elections.
The ICIR reported that (INEC) has listed former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, as PDP governorship candidate in Enugu State, despite a certificate forgery controversy that preceded his resignation from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet.
The lists contain 13 governorship candidates in Ogun and 16 in Gombe, with neither state featuring a PDP candidate with the qualifications submitted by candidates.
The omissions leave the PDP without a listed governorship candidate in the two states.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.