Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has protested the exclusion of its governorship candidate, Oluwole Oluyede, from the list of candidates released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2026 Ekiti State governorship election, threatening to seek judicial intervention to compel the commission to reverse the decision.

In a statement yesterday, the party described the omission of its candidate’s name and particulars as another indication of the “biased disposition” of the present leadership of INEC against the PDP, insisting that all necessary procedures leading to Oluyede’s nomination were duly followed.

The PDP stressed that INEC was formally notified of the conduct of its governorship primary election and actively monitored the exercise, after which it issued reports confirming that the process complied with extant electoral laws and was democratically conducted.

According to the party, following the primaries, INEC released the nomination portal codes to enable the submission of candidates’ details. However, the party alleged that the commission later blocked the nomination code a few days before the deadline for submission, thereby compelling the party to make a manual submission of its candidate’s particulars at INEC’s office, which, it said, was officially acknowledged.

“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,” the statement reads.

The party argued that, given the far-reaching implications of excluding a validly nominated candidate from an election, INEC ought to have acted with greater caution and responsibility by including Oluyede’s name in the published list of candidates.

PDP maintained that there was neither a contrary submission before the commission challenging the validity of Oluyede’s nomination nor any court order restraining INEC from recognising him as the PDP’s governorship flagbearer in Ekiti.

The PDP further noted that INEC’s own monitoring report attested to the validity of the party’s primaries and nomination process, insisting that the safest and most lawful option available to the commission was to include its candidate’s name pending the resolution of any dispute.

Consequently, the opposition party disclosed that it had commenced legal steps to approach the courts to compel INEC to include Oluyede on the list of candidates for the 2026 governorship poll.

“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,” the statement added.