The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it excluded the name of the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, from its final list because his name was not included in the party’s membership register submitted to the commission.
INEC’s explanation was contained in a counter-affidavit filed before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in response to a suit by Adebutu and the PDP, that its search of the register showed the name of the party’s deputy governorship candidate, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, but did not produce any record matching Adebutu’s name.
Adebutu and the PDP are, in the suit numbered, FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026, praying, among other things, for an order compelling INEC to recognise Adebutu as the party’s governorship candidate.
A Chief Programme Analyst in INEC’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department, Mustapha Mohammed, averred in the counter-affidavit that the electoral body searched the membership register before publishing the final list.
Mohammed further stated that the search found Oyeyemi’s name, but no record of Adebutu, even after the ICT department checked for possible variations of his name.
He said: “The ICT department found the name of the first plaintiff’s (PDP’s) candidate fielded as Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi, in the register but could not find the name of the second plaintiff,” he said.
Mohammed further stated that the two flash drives the PDP submitted alongside its hard-copy membership register did not contain Adebutu’s name or personal details, adding that, the flash drive attached to the PDP affidavit in support of the suit contained different records from those originally submitted to the commission.
He said the first flash drive submitted on April 22, 2026, contained files named Ogun 01-038, while the second had files named Ogun 01-04, pointing out that, the two files contained membership serial numbers ranging from 1 to 18,973 and 1 to 19,308, respectively.
Mohammed faulted Adebutu’s claim over membership serial number 1536, saying the record submitted to INEC identified the member as Lugboso Sunday Seun.
He insisted that his organisation carried out due diligence before publishing the final list of candidates for the election.
Meanwhile, Justice Peter Lifu, who is handling the matter has fixed November 13 for judgment.
