INEC says it dropped parties that failed to submit membership registers, after a Supreme Court ruling that has left several prominent candidates off the final list
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has set 24 October as the deadline for political parties to report candidates wrongly omitted from the final list for the 2027 governorship election.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, INEC’s national commissioner and chairman of its information and voter education committee, said parties have 14 days from the date of publication to notify the commission. He said the deadline follows Section 32(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
Why INEC left parties off the governorship list
Haruna said INEC excluded parties that failed to comply with Section 77(5) to (7) of the Electoral Act, 2026, which requires parties to submit membership registers before primaries. The commission was applying a Supreme Court judgment delivered on 24 September in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, Appeal No. SC/CV/495/2026.
The statement said the court held the provisions constitutional and mandatory for all parties. It upheld INEC’s timetable, which required parties to submit registers between 21 April and 10 May 2026. It also held that failure to comply makes a party “ineligible to sponsor any candidate for the election.”
INEC said it acted under Section 287(1) of the Constitution, which requires compliance with court decisions, when finalising the governorship list.
Haruna added that the final list of presidential and National Assembly candidates was published on 12 September, 13 days before the judgment.
Who is missing from the governorship list
The omissions have drawn protests from parties and candidates. Reports say the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidates in Gombe and Ogun, the Nigeria Democratic Congress’s candidate in Kano, Aminu Gwarzo, and the African Democratic Congress’s endorsed deputy governorship candidate in Jigawa, Aminu Ringim, are missing from the list.
THEWILL reports that the Gombe list has 16 candidates but none from the PDP, despite a fresh party primary on 29 September. It says the Social Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Benue is also absent. Some affected parties have threatened legal action to secure their inclusion.
What the Supreme Court ruled on membership registers
A seven-member Supreme Court panel upheld INEC’s appeal in September and restored sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act. In the lead judgment, Justice Adamu Jauro held that the provisions voided by the Court of Appeal in July were not inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.
The court set aside the appeal court’s verdict and restored the Federal High Court’s ruling, which had dismissed the Zenith Labour Party’s suit challenging the provisions.
Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names are on a party’s membership register, submitted to INEC at least 21 days before a primary, congress or convention, can take part in it. Section 77(6) bars a party from using any other register for those exercises.
