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

INEC’s provisional list, published on Monday, did not include the PDP candidate. Although the commission has not officially stated the reason for the omission, the development is believed to be linked to the lingering leadership crisis within the party.

INEC’s guidelines on the nomination of candidates stipulate in Section 29(3) that access codes for the electronic submission, withdrawal, or substitution of candidates’ particulars shall be issued only to the National Chairman and National Secretary of political parties, as recognised in the commission’s records. The guidelines further state that where there are conflicting requests from the two officers, the access code shall be issued to the National Chairman. Manual submission of candidates’ particulars is expressly prohibited.

The PDP, however, maintained that its nomination process complied with all legal requirements. The party noted that the immediate past National Chairman, Umar Damagum, who handed over to the Tanimu Turaki-led leadership, was duly positioned to obtain and transfer the nomination access code before the expiration of his tenure.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, described the exclusion as evidence of bias against the party by INEC. He said the PDP would explore all legal options to compel the commission to recognise its candidate.

According to the party, INEC monitored the PDP governorship primaries in Ekiti State and subsequently issued reports confirming that the exercise was conducted in line with extant laws. The PDP added that although the commission initially released nomination portal codes to the party, the codes were later blocked shortly before the submission deadline, forcing it to resort to manual submission, which it said INEC acknowledged.

The party insisted that Dr. Oluwole Oluyede emerged as its duly nominated candidate and that there was no court order or contrary submission disputing the validity of his nomination. It further argued that INEC’s own monitoring report validated the primaries and nomination process.

The PDP said it had already commenced legal action to compel INEC to include its candidate, while urging the commission to remain independent, impartial, and neutral in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities, warning that actions perceived as biased could undermine public confidence in the electoral process.