Faulting his exclusion linked to INEC\u2019s enforcement of statutory party membership requirements, Mr Adebutu said he completed his digital membership registration within the stipulated period was verified before his documentation was submitted to INEC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remain a duly registered member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I completed my digital registration within the stipulated period, and my membership card was printed and verified,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy documentation was duly submitted to INEC within the prescribed time. I have not at any point left the PDP, and my commitment to our great party remains unwavering.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement follows INEC\u2019s publication of its final list of candidates for the 6 February 2027 governorship election, which excluded Mr Adebutu and his running mate, Yemi Sowunmi-Kolapo.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\nPREMIUM TIMES reported<\/a><\/strong> that the list, signed by INEC Secretary Rose Oriaran-Anthony, contains 13 Ogun State governorship candidates from different political parties, excluding the PDP.<\/p>\n The commission, however, has not stated its reasons for the exclusion of the PDP\u2019s candidates from the list.<\/p>\n But the electoral commission\u2019s decision has been linked to its vow to enforce the statutory requirement on membership registers, following a recent Supreme Court judgement that affirmed the constitutionality of Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act 2026.<\/p>\n The court also upheld INEC\u2019s revised timetable and schedule of activities for the 2027 general elections.<\/p>\n Under Section 77(5), only members whose names appear on a political party\u2019s membership register submitted to INEC within the prescribed period can participate in the party\u2019s primaries, congresses or conventions.<\/p>\n Section 77(6) requires parties to use the membership register submitted to INEC for their primaries, while Section 77(7) provides that a party that fails to submit its register within the stipulated period is not eligible to field candidates.<\/p>\n Mr Adebutu alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had mounted \u201cundue pressure\u201d on INEC, questioning the circumstances surrounding the omission of his name.<\/p>\n \u201cThe circumstances surrounding this omission raise serious questions, particularly when all the other party\u2019s candidates across the House of Assembly, House of Representatives and Senatorial positions have appeared on the published lists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOur party has faced attempts to frustrate our campaign, including restrictions on our billboards, attacks at campaign grounds and harassment of our members.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Adebutu also defended the process through which he emerged as the PDP\u2019s governorship candidate, saying INEC officials attended the party\u2019s primary as observers.<\/p>\n He said the relevant documents were presented for verification, certification and confirmation. \u201cThese are important facts that must not be overlooked in the present circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n His defence comes amid questions over his eligibility following allegations that his name was missing from the PDP membership register submitted to INEC.<\/p>\n Two groups, the Ogun Democratic Accountability Forum and Elections Integrity Watch, had raised<\/a><\/strong> concerns about Mr Adebutu\u2019s membership status.<\/p>\n The politician urged his supporters to remain calm, expressing confidence that the issue would be resolved.<\/p>\n \u201cThe party has spoken, and the necessary steps are being taken to address this matter. I remain confident that it will be resolved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mr Adebutu, 64, has been a member of the PDP since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, running unsuccessfully for legislative elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011, as well as governorship election in 2023. This is part of why his exclusion from next year\u2019s governorship election came as a surprise to many.<\/p>\n This is part of why his exclusion from next year\u2019s governorship election came as a surprise to many.<\/p>\n Mr Adebutu, who began his political career in the Third Republic when he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 at age 30 under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), served as a commissioner in the Ogun State Local Government Service Commission starting in 2007.<\/p>\n He returned to the National Assembly in 2015 as a member of the 8th Assembly, chairing the House Committee on Rural Development and focusing on grassroots infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n This was his second time of clinching the PDP\u2019s governorship ticket for Ogun State, until INEC\u2019s decision excluding him from next year\u2019s election. Mr Adebutu later won the PDP\u2019s governorship ticket for Ogun State in the 2023 elections. He lost the election to incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun, which solidified his position as a major opposition leader.<\/p>\n His political activities have extended toward subsequent electoral cycles, where he has navigated intra-party disputes and legal challenges regarding candidate lists alongside the Ogun PDP leadership<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p><\/div>\n Source: <\/p>\n Ogun State governorship hopeful Ladi Adebutu has insisted that he remains a duly registered member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the exclusion of his name from the Independent… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Adebutu alleges political pressure<\/strong><\/h3>\n
READ ALSO:\u00a02027: INEC excludes Pantami, Adebutu, clears Chinda in final governorship candidates list<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
About Adebutu<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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