INEC Omits Adebutu, Pantami In Final List Of 936 Governorship Candidates, Running Mates
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published the final list of all party candidates it has cleared for the February 6, 2027 governorship elections.
INEC says 21 of Nigeria’s 22 registered political parties nominated a total of 936 governorship and deputy governorship candidates across the 28 states scheduled to hold governorship elections in 2027.
The parties also nominated 9,692 candidates for the State Houses of Assembly elections.
Conspicuously missing from the line-up is the name of the former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, erstwhile touted as the PDP governorship candidates for Gombe State.
Similarly, in Ogun State, the names of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Candidate, Ladi Adebutu, and his Running Mate are also missing from INEC’s final list of candidates.
INEC published the final list of 16 cleared candidates for the election, with Pantami, whose name appeared on the provisional list released on August 29, absent from the updated list.
In Pantami’s Gombe State, the final list features Bala Bello Tinka of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Babayo Ardo Kumo of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC).
Other candidates cleared by INEC include Zubairu Mu’azu Halilu of the Labour Party, Lamela L. Silas of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Ibrahim Jalo Abubakar of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Adamu Mohammed Ma’aji of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), among others.
