A civil society group, Elections Integrity Watch, has questioned the documentary basis of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) nomination of Hon. Ladi Adebutu as its governorship candidate in Ogun State ahead of the 2027 election.
The group claimed that a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the PDP membership register obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not contain Adebutu’s name.
Chairman of Elections Integrity Watch, Comrade Akinlolu Anifowose, who disclosed this in a statement, said the development had raised questions about the membership record on which Adebutu’s candidacy was being presented.
Anifowose urged INEC to clarify whether the certified register in the group’s possession represents the membership register submitted by the PDP within the period prescribed by law.
“The issue before INEC is straightforward: if the Certified True Copy issued by the Commission does not contain Hon. Ladi Adebutu’s name, on what record is he now being presented as the PDP governorship candidate?” he asked.
He said the group was not asking the electoral commission to take sides in an internal dispute within the PDP, but to establish the documentary basis for the nomination.
“If another document containing Adebutu’s name exists, INEC should clarify when it was submitted, by whom, under what legal authority it was accepted and whether it complied with the applicable statutory requirements,” he said.
The development comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s recent decision restoring provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to political party membership registers and candidate nomination processes.
The apex court recently restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 after allowing INEC’s appeal against a Court of Appeal decision that had voided the provisions.
Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names appear on a party’s membership register submitted to INEC within the prescribed period can participate in the party’s primaries, congresses or conventions. Section 77(6) requires parties to use the register submitted to the commission for such exercises, while Section 77(7) provides a statutory consequence for a party that fails to submit its register within the stipulated period.
According to Elections Integrity Watch, the Supreme Court decision makes it important to establish the identity, provenance and submission date of the membership register relied upon in the Ogun PDP nomination process.
Anifowose, however, stressed that the group was not accusing INEC of altering its records.
“We are not alleging that INEC altered any record. We are asking the Commission to establish the facts. Where there is a material difference between an official certified document and another record subsequently relied upon, there should be a clear documentary and legal basis for that difference,” he said.
He also called for the preservation of relevant physical and electronic records, including membership documents submitted to INEC, nomination records, submission timestamps and available audit trails.
According to him, preserving the records would allow the chronology of the PDP’s membership and nomination documentation to be independently established.
Elections Integrity Watch said its intervention was aimed at ensuring that questions surrounding the Ogun PDP nomination are determined through verifiable records and the applicable law.
The group did not allege that INEC had altered the membership register, but called on the commission to clarify whether any subsequent document containing Adebutu’s name was submitted and accepted, and the legal basis for such acceptance.
