The judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja presided by Honourable Justice Umar has granted all the reliefs sought by Dr. Oluwole Oluyede and the Peoples Democratic Party in the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/40/2026 against the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Specifically, the court frowned at the exclusion of Dr. Oluyede, who was the Governorship candidate of the PDP in Ekiti, and directed the Commission to immediately recognise the candidate and include his name on the list of candidates and the logo of the party on the ballot for the Ekiti Governorship elections. the court further granted an order of perpetual injunction preventing the Commission from further rejecting or excluding the candidate from activities related to the forthcoming Governorship elections in Ekiti State.
Dr. Oluwole Oluyede was presented with a certificate of return by the National Chairman of the Party, Kabiru Turaki, SAN, as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2026 Governorship elections in Ekiti.
However, INEC, under the leadership of Prof. Joash Amupitan SAN, flagrantly and unlawfully refused to include his name on the list of candidates.
 

The candidate and the party approached the court to question the legal authority of the Commission to act in the manner it did.
We welcome this judgment as a confirmation of the reality in Ekiti and acknowledge that indeed justice has been served.
Furthermore, we admonish INEC to act within the confines of the law and refrain from unbridled partisanship. The Commission is aware of several judgments to the effect that it cannot exclude lawfully nominated candidates, as in the instant case. They should remember the historic negative roles which past electoral commissions played in the collapse of democracy in the past republics and consciously act in favour of protecting multi-party democracy, and not otherwise.
With this over, the path to victory in the Ekiti Governorship election is clear, and we charge our members to hit the campaign trail with their message of redemption through the candidature of Dr. Oluwole Oluyede.