The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State has deepened following a fresh claim to its governorship ticket by Topa Olusegun Peter, prompting a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Kayode Oladele, to urge the opposition party to resolve its internal disputes rather than blame the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Oladele, Chairman of the Planning Committee of the Ogun State APC Presidential and Governorship Campaign Council, said the development had further exposed the uncertainty surrounding the PDP’s preparations for the February 6, 2027 governorship election.
His reaction followed reports that Peter, through his lawyers, had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to INEC to explain why his name was omitted from the final list of governorship candidates, insisting that he was duly nominated by the PDP.
The development comes days after the Ogun PDP publicly reaffirmed Hon. Ladi Adebutu as its governorship candidate following the omission of his name and that of his running mate from INEC’s published list.
Reacting to the controversy, Oladele described the emergence of another claimant to the party’s governorship ticket as an additional challenge for the PDP, which is already grappling with legal and organisational difficulties.
“The PDP should first tell the people of Ogun State who its governorship candidate is. While its leadership is insisting that Ladi Adebutu remains its candidate, another aspirant has approached INEC through his lawyers, claiming to be the duly nominated candidate of the same party.
“This is a party that cannot appear to agree on its own governorship ticket, yet it is busy accusing the APC of being responsible for its problems. The PDP should stop looking for scapegoats and resolve its internal crisis,” he said.
The former federal lawmaker questioned the PDP’s ability to present itself as an alternative to the ruling APC while facing competing claims over its candidate-selection process.
Oladele, a lawyer, also argued that issuing ultimatums to INEC could not override statutory requirements governing the nomination of candidates for elections.
He recalled that INEC had attributed the omission of some governorship candidates to the Supreme Court judgment of September 24, 2026, in INEC v. Zenith Labour Party, which upheld mandatory requirements relating to the submission of political party membership registers under the Electoral Act, 2026.
“The Supreme Court has pronounced on the legal obligations of political parties. The issue is not simply whether an individual’s name appears on a membership register or whether he participated in a primary election.
“The more fundamental question is whether the sponsoring political party complied with the statutory requirements that confer upon it the legal capacity to nominate candidates,” he said.
According to Oladele, no individual candidate can enjoy a greater legal right than that available to the political party through which he seeks election.
He added that where a party is legally barred from sponsoring candidates, the consequences could extend to individuals claiming nomination through that platform.
The APC chieftain maintained that INEC was constitutionally bound to comply with binding decisions of the Supreme Court, stressing that any challenge to the commission’s interpretation or application of the judgment must be pursued through lawful channels.
Oladele further contrasted the PDP’s ongoing disputes with the APC’s preparations for the election, saying the ruling party was consolidating its structures and mobilising support across Ogun State’s three senatorial districts behind its governorship candidate, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.
He urged the PDP to take responsibility for its internal affairs, insisting that the APC had no role in the opposition party’s primaries, membership registration or candidate nomination.
“The APC did not conduct the PDP primaries, compile its membership register or nominate its candidates. Those are entirely internal responsibilities of the PDP. It is therefore politically mischievous to blame the APC whenever the consequences of the PDP’s own decisions become inconvenient.
“The PDP cannot continue to manufacture political accusations to conceal its organisational failures. The people of Ogun State are watching, and they can distinguish between a party preparing seriously for governance and one consumed by its own internal contradictions,” he said.
