Justice Mohammed Umar of a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise and publish the name of Dr. Oluwole Oluyede as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the June 2026 Ekiti governorship election.
Justice Umar also ordered INEC to include the name and logo of PDP in the ballot paper for the poll.
The PDP said that the judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja is an epitome of justice done to the Governorship candidate, Oluyede.
The judge made the order while delivering judgement in the suit filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate.
Justice Umar who held that plaintiffs had a reasonable cause of action and entitled to the reliefs sought, agreed with the PDP and Oluyede that the case before the court was not the issue of the validity of the office of the party’s national chairman and national secretary.
The PDP and Oluyede, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/40/2026, had dragged INEC before the judge as sole defendant.
The plaintiffs, who posed six questions, asked whether having regard to the provisions of Sections 29(1) & (3) and 84(5)(b)(ii) of the Electoral Act, 2022, it was not illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional for INEC to publish Oluyede’s name, among other candidates for the poll.
They prayed the court to determine that INEC, having monitored, witnessed and produced a report of the party’s governorship primary election properly conducted on November 8 and 9, 2025 which produced Oluyede as its governorship candidate for the election, was not in breach of the laws for refusing to publish Oluyede’s name.
They, therefore, sought an order compelling the defendant to accord recognition to and publish the name of the 2nd plaintiff (Oluyede) as the governorship candidate of the 1st plaintiff (PDP) for the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election, among the 11 reliefs.
In his judgement on Friday Justice Umar held that the suit was not whether or not the defendant should accept the candidacy of the 2nd plaintiff who emerged from a valid primary election.
“The point has been already made above that the apex court has settled the fact that the defendant is not to refuse the names submitted to it by political parties by clinging on the qualifications of those submitting same,” he said.
The judge, therefore, ordered the commission to include Oluyede’s name in the ballot paper as PDP governorship candidate in the 2026 Ekiti poll.
“An order of perpetual injunction is granted restraining the defendant either by itself, its chairman, secretary, directors, staff, officers, servants, agents, employees, or by whatsoever name called and howsoever described from further rejecting, declining, refusing to accord recognition to, acting upon the nomination of the 2nd plaintiff as the candidate of the 1st plaintiff for the 2026 Ekiti State Governorship election.”
Oluyede had earlier been presented with a certificate of return by the National Chairman of the PDP, Kabiru Turaki, SAN, confirming him as the party’s flag bearer for the 2026 governorship election in the state.
However, the party said INEC, under the leadership of its Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, refused to include Oluyede’s name on the list of candidates, prompting the candidate and the PDP to challenge the decision in court.
In a statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Emeombong, the PDP said, “The judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja presided by Honourable Justice Umar has granted all the reliefs sought by Dr. Oluwole Oluyede and the Peoples Democratic Party in the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/40/2026 against the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
Emeombong said, “Specifically, the court frowned at the exclusion of Dr. Oluyede, who was the Governorship candidate of the PDP in Ekiti, and directed the Commission to immediately recognise the candidate and include his name on the list of candidates and the logo of the party on the ballot for the Ekiti Governorship elections.”
The spokesman of the PDP further said, “The court further granted an order of perpetual injunction preventing the Commission from further rejecting or excluding the candidate from activities related to the forthcoming Governorship elections in Ekiti State.”
Oluyede was presented with a certificate of return by the National Chairman of the Party, Kabiru Turaki, SAN, as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2026 Governorship elections in Ekiti.
However, he said, “INEC, under the leadership of Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, flagrantly and unlawfully refused to include his name on the list of candidates.
“The candidate and the party approached the court to question the legal authority of the Commission to act in the manner it did.
“We welcome this judgement as a confirmation of the reality in Ekiti and acknowledge that indeed justice has been served.
“Furthermore, we admonish INEC to act within the confines of the law and refrain from unbridled partisanship. The Commission is aware of several judgments to the effect that it cannot exclude lawfully nominated candidates, as in the instant case.
“They should remember the historic negative roles which past electoral commissions played in the collapse of democracy in the past republics and consciously act in favour of protecting multi-party democracy, and not otherwise.
“With this over, the path to victory in the Ekiti Governorship election is clear, and we charge our members to hit the campaign trail with their message of redemption through the candidature of Dr. Oluwole Oluyede,” Emeombong stated.
Chuks Okocha and Alex Enumah
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