INEC Bows To Court Order, Lists Adebutu As Ogun PDP Guber Candidate

Oladipupo Adebutu has been declared as the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for governor of Ogun state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Adebutu and Segun Sowunmi are the PDP’s candidates for the 2023 governorship race after two factions of the party held simultaneous primaries.

The Ogun High Court was contacted by Jimi Lawal, another candidate for governor, and other contestants to dispute the legitimacy of the Sikirulahi Ogundele-led leadership of the party that produced Adebutu.

All of the party’s governorship primaries held in the state had been declared invalid by the court, which also mandated the holding of new elections.

Consequently, INEC omitted Ogun PDP when it published the list of governorship candidates for the 2023 elections.

However, a federal high court in Abuja, on December 1, affirmed Adebutu as the PDP governorship candidate.

In a statement on Friday, INEC said it had amended the list of candidates in compliance with the court order.

“INEC recalled that it published the final list of governorship candidates on October 4, 2022, in accordance with the provisions of Section 32 of the Electoral Act, 2022,” the statement reads.

“After the said publication, the Commission was served Orders of Court in respect of the nomination of candidates for Governorship, Senatorial, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly elections.

“By virtue of the provision of Section 287 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Commission is bound to enforce the Orders of Court on the Nomination of candidates by political parties in the affected Constituencies.

“Consequently, the lists of candidates in respect of the attached senatorial districts and federal constituencies, governorship and state house of assembly elections are amended pursuant to the orders of court served on the commission as at 21st December, 2022 for upload on the commission’s website.”