The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to challenge the exclusion of the particulars of its candidate from the provisional list of candidates for the Ekiti off-cycle governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The provisional list of candidates released by the commission on Monday revealed that the PDP candidate was excluded from the list by the commission.

No official reason has been given by the commission for the exclusion, but it may not be unconnected with the current leadership crisis in the Party.

But section 29(3) of the INEC guidelines for nomination of candidates for elections provides that the access code is to be made available only to the National Chairman and National Secretary of the parties, as contained in the INEC data.

The section reads, “The National Chairman and National Secretary of political parties as contained in the Commission’s records shall be issued an access code for the electronic submission, withdrawal, and substitution of names and particulars of their candidates as elected at the political party primaries monitored by the Commission.”

The guidelines also said that “where there are conflicting requests from the National Chairman and National Secretary of a political party, the access code shall be issued to the National Chairman of the party.”

INEC also outlawed the manual submission of the names and particulars of its candidates for elections.

The immediate past national chairman, Umar Damagun, who handed over affairs of the party to Tanimu Turaki, was in a position to obtain the access code from the commission before the expiration of his tenure and handed it over to the Turaki-led leadership.

In a statement on Tuesday, National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, said the decision of the electoral umpire to exclude the name of its candidate was a further demonstration of the bias of the commission, saying the PDP would explore all legal means to get INEC to recognise its candidate.

The statement reads, “The exclusion of the name and particulars of our candidate from the list of candidates for the 2026 Governorship Election in Ekiti State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet another confirmation of the biased disposition of the current leadership of the Commission towards the affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“For the avoidance of doubt, INEC was duly notified of the conduct of our party’s governorship primaries. The Commission attended and monitored the exercise and subsequently issued reports confirming that the primaries complied with all extant laws and were democratically conducted.

“Following this, INEC released the relevant nomination portal codes to our party, through which the official nomination forms were accessed, before they disingenuously blocked the code a few days before the submission date, causing us to resort to manual submission at their office (receipt of which was acknowledged).

“Being fully aware of the grave and far-reaching consequences of excluding a validly nominated candidate from an election, INEC ought to have acted with caution and responsibility by including the name of Dr. Oluwole Oluyede, the duly nominated candidate of the PDP, in the published list of candidates.

“This would have been the safest and most lawful course of action for the Commission, had it acted without bias. There is no contrary submission before INEC disputing the validity of Dr. Oluyede’s nomination. There is also no court order restraining the Commission from recognising him as the PDP’s candidate. Indeed, INEC’s own monitoring report attests to the validity of the primaries and the nomination process.

“Having failed to act appropriately, our party has immediately taken steps to approach the courts to compel INEC to do what it ought to have done in the first place.

“While we undertake this long and tortuous legal route, we once again draw the attention of INEC to the expectations of Nigerians that the Commission must remain independent, impartial, and neutral in matters relating to political parties and the electoral process.

“While we acknowledge the saying that he who pays the piper dictates the tune, the Commission must be conscious that the tune currently being dictated is dangerously high-pitched and will ultimately harm the piper. INEC must always act in defence of democracy, and never in antagonism to it.” (The Nation)