ADEBUTU IS NOT DISQUALIFIED, HE REMAINS PDP’S FLAGBEARER — PDP DECLARES

PDP ANSWERS THE DISQUALIFICATION QUESTION

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun State has rejected claims challenging the eligibility of its 2027 governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu, insisting that he remains eligible to contest the election.

The response comes against the backdrop of a fresh disqualification narrative that surfaced in public discourse on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, including a Facebook writeup by S.F. Emmanuel Ojo in the morning which raised the question of whether Adebutu could be disqualified from the 2027 governorship race.

The PDP’s response, however, is unequivocal.

The party says Adebutu remains a properly registered member and that claims questioning his eligibility do not alter his status as its governorship candidate.

According to the PDP’s Ogun State Publicity Secretary, Arc. Kayode Adebayo, Adebutu is a “duly registered and financially active member” of the party and remains one of its recognised leaders in Ogun State.

THE MEMBERSHIP REGISTER QUESTION

At the centre of the latest controversy is a claim that Adebutu’s name was omitted from the PDP’s official membership register.

The allegation was attributed to the Ogun Democratic Accountability Forum, ODAF, which questioned whether the omission affected Adebutu’s eligibility to contest the 2027 governorship election.

The PDP has rejected that interpretation. Adebayo said the party had complied with the relevant legal and statutory requirements governing membership registration and submission of its membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

That assertion is now central to the dispute. If the disagreement is ultimately reduced to whether Adebutu was properly registered and whether the relevant register was validly submitted, the documentary record held by the party and INEC will be important to resolving the question.

“BASELESS AND POLITICALLY MOTIVATED”

The PDP described the allegations questioning Adebutu’s eligibility as “baseless and politically motivated.” The party’s position is that Adebutu has satisfied the requirements necessary for him to remain its candidate and that the attempt to question his eligibility through the membership-register argument does not invalidate his candidacy.

This is the point at which the fresh PDP response intersects with the disqualification issue raised in public commentary.

The important distinction is that a public claim of disqualification is not itself a legal disqualification. For Adebutu to be legally barred from contesting, the relevant constitutional, electoral or party-law provisions would have to be established and applied through the appropriate process.

PDP: ADEBUTU HAS ALREADY BEEN CLEARED

The latest controversy also comes after the PDP’s governorship screening process earlier this year. In May 2026, the PDP Governorship Screening Committee cleared Adebutu to contest the party’s governorship primary ahead of the 2027 election.

The screening was described as the party’s mandatory verification and eligibility process. Adebutu subsequently emerged as the PDP’s Ogun governorship candidate.

The PDP later announced Dr Yemi Sowunmi-Kolapo as his running mate in June, further demonstrating that the party has proceeded with the ticket as its 2027 governorship ticket.

The latest dispute therefore raises a narrower question: has anything since the party’s screening and primary created a legally established ground for Adebutu’s disqualification?

The PDP’s answer is no.

THE ISSUE IS NOT ENTIRELY NEW

Questions around Adebutu’s eligibility and candidacy are not new in Ogun politics. Ahead of the 2023 governorship election, reports also circulated that Adebutu had been removed or delisted from the INEC list of candidates.

INEC’s Ogun Resident Electoral Commissioner at the time, Niyi Ijalaye, dismissed that report as a rumour and said Adebutu remained the authentic PDP governorship candidate. “It is a rumor that is not founded, that is all,” Ijalaye said in March 2023.

Adebutu ultimately contested the 2023 election as the PDP candidate. Earlier, in December 2022, the Federal High Court in Abuja had affirmed Adebutu as the PDP’s Ogun governorship candidate after dismissing a challenge to the party’s primary process.

Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the delegates’ list challenged by the plaintiff was the same list approved by the PDP and INEC.

Those earlier disputes do not automatically determine the legal position in 2026, but they show why questions about Adebutu’s candidacy have repeatedly become part of Ogun’s electoral contest.

A DIFFERENT QUESTION FROM THE OLD COURT CASES

The current issue should not be confused with the separate criminal proceedings Adebutu faced following the 2023 election.

In 2024, Adebutu was arraigned before an Ogun State High Court on allegations bordering on vote buying and related offences. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In March 2025, a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled in a separate suit involving Adebutu and others that the Attorney-General of the Federation lacked the power to initiate, maintain and prosecute offences under the Electoral Act 2022.

The case concerned the prosecution arising from allegations linked to the 2023 election. Those proceedings should not be presented as proof that Adebutu is either qualified or disqualified for the 2027 election.

They are separate legal questions.

WHY THE LATEST PDP RESPONSE MATTERS

The PDP’s response matters because the 2027 Ogun governorship contest is already taking shape, with Adebutu formally carrying the opposition party’s ticket and the APC fielding Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, popularly known as Yayi.

The PDP has previously defended its decision to nominate Adebutu against criticism from APC figures who questioned the choice of another Iperu-Remo indigene after Governor Dapo Abiodun’s tenure.

In July, APC chieftain Kayode Oladele criticised the PDP’s choice, while the PDP responded that candidate selection was an internal party matter provided the process complied with the Constitution and Electoral Act.

The latest membership-register controversy adds another legal and procedural dimension to the contest.

WHAT THE PDP IS SAYING

The party’s position can be reduced to several clear assertions:

First, Adebutu remains a member of the PDP.

Second, the party says he is financially active within the party.

Third, the PDP says the relevant membership registration and submission requirements were followed.

Fourth, the party rejects the allegation that Adebutu’s membership status makes him ineligible to contest.

Fifth, the PDP describes the allegations as politically motivated.

These are the party’s claims. Whether any contrary claim has sufficient legal basis is ultimately a matter for the relevant electoral and judicial processes.

THE DOCUMENTS WILL MATTER

The controversy therefore goes beyond political statements.

The decisive evidence, if the matter proceeds formally, would include the PDP’s membership records, its submission to INEC, relevant correspondence, the applicable electoral provisions and any court filings challenging Adebutu’s candidacy.

That is where the difference between an allegation of disqualification and an established disqualification becomes critical.

For now, the PDP maintains that Adebutu remains eligible for the 2027 Ogun governorship election. Any opposing claim would have to establish the specific legal provision relied upon, the facts said to trigger that provision and the authority competent to determine the consequence.

As the 2027 contest gathers momentum, the Adebutu eligibility controversy is therefore another test of whether Ogun’s political arguments will be settled by campaign rhetoric or by the documentary and legal record. ValidViewNetwork reports.