Court Fixes Friday for Judgment in PDP, Adebutu’s Suit Against INEC

The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Friday, November 13, to deliver judgment in a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Ogun State governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish his name for the 2027 governorship election.

Justice Peter Lifu fixed the date after the parties presented their witnesses and adopted their written submissions in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2573/2026.

The PDP and Adebutu filed the suit on October 22 following the omission of the former’s name from INEC’s list of candidates for the Ogun governorship election.

The plaintiffs sued INEC as the sole defendant through their counsel, Ahmed Raji, SAN.

They asked the court to determine six questions and grant 11 reliefs, including an order setting aside INEC’s decision to omit, remove or refuse to publish Adebutu’s name in the final list of candidates released on October 10.

They argued that the commission’s decision denied Adebutu a fair hearing and violated Sections 29 and 32 of the Electoral Act 2026.

The plaintiffs also sought an order compelling INEC to include and publish Adebutu’s name as the PDP’s governorship candidate for Ogun State within 24 hours of the court’s judgment.

In its counter-affidavit, however, INEC, through Mustapha Mohammed, a Chief Programme Analyst in its Information and Communication Technology Department, maintained that Adebutu’s name was not contained in the register of party members earlier submitted by the PDP.

The commission told the court that the only name it found in the register was that of the party’s deputy governorship candidate in the state, Kolapo Lateefat Oyeyemi.

At the last sitting on November 5, both parties called witnesses to support their respective positions.

Testifying for the plaintiffs, the PDP National Organising Secretary, Umar Bature, told the court that Adebutu’s name was included in the flash drive containing the party’s list of candidates submitted to INEC.

Led in evidence by Raji, Bature also disputed the colour of the flash drive presented by INEC in court, stating that the device submitted by the party was silver.

He maintained that the PDP submitted only a soft copy of its candidates’ list through the flash drive, in line 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, insisted that Adebutu’s name was absent from the list of candidates submitted by the PDP.

The INEC official also told the court that the party submitted both hard and soft copies of its candidates’ list to the commission.

After hearing the parties, Justice Lifu adjourned the matter until Friday, November 13, for judgment.