2027: INEC excludes Pantami, Adebutu, clears Chinda in final governorship candidates’ list

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released its final list of candidates for the 2027 governorship elections. According to This Day, the list does not include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidates for Gombe and Ogun states, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) governorship candidate in Kano State. Specifically, Ali Pantami of PDP in Gombe State, Ladi Adebutu of PDP in Ogun State, and Aminu Gwarzo of NDC in Kano State are missing from the list.

The Kano State Chairman of NDC, Alhaji Hussaini Mairiga, has insisted that Gwarzo remains the governorship candidate of the party in the state, as reported by This Day. INEC, however, cleared the APC governorship candidate in Rivers State, Kingsley Chinda, for the 2027 governorship election in the state.

The decision to exclude some candidates is believed to be connected to a Supreme Court ruling, as reported by This Day. The Supreme Court judgment restored provisions of the Electoral Act restricting participation in party primaries to members whose names appear on membership registers submitted to INEC within the statutory period, according to Premium Times.

Brief written by urgent.news from Premium Times, This Day, Punch, Punch Nigeria, Daily Trust — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.