The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has cleared former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, to contest the 2027 Gombe State governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
However, the commission’s review of complaints against the candidates’ lists has left the political ambitions of two other prominent politicians hanging.
They are Ladi Adebutu, the PDP governorship hopeful in Ogun State, and Aminu Gwarzo, the Nigeria Democratic Congress candidate in Kano State, whose names were not approved during the exercise.
An INEC official familiar with the review told The PUNCH on Thursday night that Adebutu’s case was dismissed because the PDP did not include his name in the original list of nominees forwarded to the commission.
The official explained that the absence of his name from the party’s initial submission affected his chances of securing clearance.
“His petition was rejected because his name was not included in the list of candidates originally submitted to INEC by the PDP,” the source said.
Gwarzo’s situation, however, is tied to an ongoing legal dispute. According to the official, a Federal High Court order preventing INEC from making his name public stood in the way of his clearance.
The source maintained that the Kano deputy governor would otherwise have been approved, adding that his eventual status would be determined by the court’s decision.
“He would have scaled through, but unfortunately, there was an ex parte order from the Federal High Court barring INEC from publishing his name. That was the reason he was not cleared,” the official stated.
The commission is expected to make the revised candidates’ list available on Friday, following its consideration of complaints arising from the initial publication.
INEC had released the names of candidates for the 2027 presidential, National Assembly, governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections on October 10, 2026. The publication, however, did not feature Adebutu, Pantami, Gwarzo and some other aspirants.
Providing further details of Thursday’s review, INEC disclosed that it had upheld 66 petitions while dismissing 64 others.
The announcement was contained in a statement signed by Mohammed Haruna, Chairman of the commission’s Information and Voter Education Committee.
The complaints raised various concerns, including the exclusion of political parties from the published lists, the nomination of individuals allegedly missing from their parties’ membership records and instances of multiple nominations.
