The Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is going to court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to list its candidate, Dr. Oluwole Oluyede, for the 2026 governorship election in Ekiti State, accusing the commission of deliberate bias.
First Daily earlier reported that the candidate of the PDP, Dr Wole Oluyede, and his deputy were conspicuously absent as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released the provisional list of party candidates ahead of the election.
INEC on Monday, December 29, posted the list of candidates from 12 political parties vying for the state’s top job at its office on New Iyin Road, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The list includes candidates from the All Progressives Congress, APC, fielding the incumbent governor, Biodun Oyebanji, with Monisade Afuye as his running mate.
Others include Accord Party (AP), African Action Congress (AAC), Action Democratic Party (ADP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP).
Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, December 30, signed by National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the PDP said the failure to publish Oluyede’s name is “yet another confirmation of the biased disposition of the current leadership of the Commission towards the affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”
The party insisted it followed all legal steps and that INEC itself monitored and certified its primary.
READ ALSO: Ekiti 2026: PDP Missing from INEC Provisional Candidates List
“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,” the statement said.
It added that INEC initially provided portal codes for uploading Oluyede’s nomination, “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).”
The PDP argued that, fully aware of the implications of excluding a validly nominated candidate, INEC “ought to have acted with caution and responsibility by including the name of Dr. Oluwole Oluyede… 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,” it added.
“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,” Ememobong said.
While vowing to pursue the “long and tortuous legal route,” the PDP warned that “the tune currently being dictated is dangerously high-pitched and will ultimately harm the piper,” urging INEC to “always act in defence of democracy, and never in antagonism to it.”