Former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani has urged political candidates whose names are missing from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) final lists to abandon further legal battles and begin preparing for future elections.

Sani said the Supreme Court ruling on political party membership registers had made the matter clear, warning affected candidates against spending more money, time and energy challenging their exclusion.

“The Supreme Court ruling that enabled INEC to exclude some names of candidates is very clear. Affected candidates should not waste their money, time and energy fighting a lost battle,” he wrote in a post on X.

The former lawmaker also appealed to lawyers representing the affected candidates, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), to stop encouraging them to file fresh lawsuits.

“I also wish to appeal to those Barristers and SANs to ‘pity’ those candidates and allow them to rest, and not mislead them into spending more money ‘filing fresh suits’. Four years will come and go; let them strategise for the future,” he added.

In September, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court upheld an appeal filed by INEC and restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act.

Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names appear on a political party’s membership register submitted to INEC at least 21 days before a primary, congress or convention can participate in the exercise.

The ruling comes amid the omission of some prominent politicians from INEC’s final lists of governorship candidates for the 2027 elections.

In Ogun State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Ladi Adebutu, and his running mate are missing from the commission’s final list.

In Gombe State, Isa Pantami, who recently won a fresh PDP governorship primary, is also absent from INEC’s final list, alongside his running mate.

INEC’s published documents do not state why the candidates and their running mates were omitted. (Channels TV)