A Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) membership register obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not contain the name of Hon. Ladi Adebutu, who is currently being presented by the party as its governorship candidate in Ogun State, Elections Integrity Watch has said.
The group said the apparent discrepancy raises questions about the record on which Adebutu’s candidacy is being presented and whether any subsequent document containing his name was submitted to and accepted by INEC.
Chairman of Elections Integrity Watch, Comrade Akinlolu Anifowose, said the issue assumes particular significance in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on statutory provisions governing party membership registers and their use in internal party elections.
Anifowose said the group was in possession of an INEC-certified copy in which Adebutu’s name does not appear, and urged the Commission to clarify whether the document represents the register submitted by the PDP within the period prescribed by law.
“The issue before INEC is straightforward: if the Certified True Copy issued by the Commission does not contain Hon. Ladi Adebutu’s name, on what record is he now being presented as the PDP governorship candidate?” Anifowose asked.
He said the group was not asking INEC to take sides in an internal political dispute, but to account for the documentary basis of the nomination.
“If another document containing Adebutu’s name exists, INEC should clarify when it was submitted, by whom, under what legal authority it was accepted and whether it complied with the applicable statutory requirements,” he said.
The group’s position comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s restoration of Sections 77(5), 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act 2026, provisions relating to party membership registers and their use in internal electoral processes.
According to Elections Integrity Watch, the decision reinforces the importance of establishing the identity, provenance and submission date of the record relied upon for the PDP’s Ogun governorship process.
Anifowose stressed that the group was not alleging that INEC had altered its records.
“We are not alleging that INEC altered any record. We are asking the Commission to establish the facts. Where there is a material difference between an official certified document and another record subsequently relied upon, there should be a clear documentary and legal basis for that difference,” he said.
He also urged the preservation of relevant physical and electronic records, including submitted membership documents, nomination records, submission timestamps and available audit trails, to enable the chronology to be independently established.
Elections Integrity Watch said its intervention was aimed at ensuring that the status of the Ogun PDP nomination is determined on the basis of verifiable records and the applicable law, rather than conflicting claims.
