Political parties across Nigeria are engaging the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to resolve discrepancies in its final list of candidates for the 2027 general elections, following the omission of several governorship and legislative contestants.

The affected parties include the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, African Democratic Congress ADC, Nigeria Democratic Congress NDC, Action Alliance (AA) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), with some attributing the omissions to technical errors while others face internal disputes over nominations and eligibility.

Among the prominent politicians missing from the published list are former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, the PDP governorship candidate in Gombe State, and the party’s Ogun State candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu.

Others include Aminu Gwarzo of the NDC in Kano State, former senator Danjuma Tella La’ah in Kaduna State and the SDP governorship candidate in Benue State, Professor Sebastine Hon.

The PDP said it had begun discussions with INEC to resolve the omissions affecting its candidates in Ogun and Gombe states. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Mohammed, urged affected candidates and supporters to remain calm while engagements with the commission continued.

Adebutu maintained that he remained a duly registered PDP member and had fulfilled the requirements for his candidacy. He said he completed his digital membership registration within the stipulated period and that his membership card had been printed and verified before the relevant documents were submitted to INEC.

He also said the primary election that produced him as the party’s candidate was conducted in the presence of INEC officials, who attended as observers. Adebutu expressed confidence that the discrepancy would be resolved, while alleging that the Ogun PDP had faced pressure from the ruling All Progressives Congress. The allegation had not been independently established.

The Action Alliance has threatened legal action over the omission of some of its governorship and legislative candidates. Its National Chairman and presidential candidate, Aare Adekunle Omo-Aje, said the party’s legal team was preparing a formal complaint to INEC.

The party identified its affected governorship candidates as Eke Israel in Rivers State, Titilola-Sodo Dayo in Oyo, Abdullah-Bukharin in Nasarawa and Zubairu Musa in Bauchi. Omo-Aje maintained that the party had complied with the commission’s guidelines and deadlines.

In Jigawa State, the ADC protested the omission of its endorsed deputy governorship candidate, Aminu Ringim, and about seven other candidates. The party’s Deputy State Chairman, Nuraddeen Jidawa, said it would continue to engage INEC through legal channels, noting that Ringim’s name had been replaced by Musa Balarabe on the published list.

In Kaduna State, the NDC attributed the omission of former senator Danjuma Tella La’ah to a possible mix-up involving his name during online registration. State chairman Evangelist Mordecai Ibrahim said network problems had led to repeated registration attempts, creating discrepancies that the party hoped to resolve.

The omission occurred amid an earlier internal disagreement over whether La’ah or lawyer Mohammed Abbas should represent the NDC in the governorship election. The party had yet to confirm whether it had formally petitioned INEC over the matter.

Other affected candidates include the SDP’s Professor Sebastine Hon in Benue State and Accord Party governorship candidate Shuaibu Kubi in Nasarawa State. The SDP said it would engage INEC over the omissions, while the NDC reported that some of its candidates in Borno State were also missing from the list.

Not all exclusions have been attributed to administrative errors. In Kwara State, the African Action Congress governorship candidate, Duwatsu Musa, was omitted because he had not attained the constitutionally prescribed minimum age of 35 for governorship candidates. Musa confirmed that he was 34 and would turn 35 in February 2027.

Meanwhile, disputes over party nominations have affected candidates in Lagos and Oyo states. In Lagos, some politicians who reportedly won party primaries were replaced on their parties’ final tickets, while others defected to different political platforms. The developments have raised further questions about the nomination process and the names submitted to INEC.

The commission’s final lists for Ogun and Gombe states contained 13 and 16 governorship candidates respectively, but neither included a PDP candidate.

The omissions have heightened concerns over candidate eligibility, compliance with electoral requirements and the possibility of further litigation ahead of the elections.

The disputes also come amid renewed scrutiny of political parties’ membership registers following a Supreme Court ruling on provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 governing party membership records and candidate selection.

As affected parties seek clarification and possible corrections, the outcome of their engagements with INEC and any ensuing court cases could determine which candidates ultimately appear on the ballot in 2027.