Ogun PDP Says APC Pressured INEC, APC Says “Stop the Blame Game,” INEC Says Nothing. Excellent Teamwork

You know that airport nightmare where you hold your printed boarding pass, you have paid, you have reached the gate, and the agent looks at her screen and says, “Sir, you are not on the manifest”? That is Ladi Adebutu right now. The airport is INEC, the plane is the Ogun governorship race, and the whole state is watching from the departure lounge.

Here is the gist. INEC released its final candidates’ list, and Adebutu, the PDP’s candidate in Ogun, was not on it, and neither was his running mate. The Ogun PDP responded, through its publicity secretary, by accusing the APC of putting undue pressure on INEC because, it says, the ruling party is apprehensive about losing. That is an allegation, and it has not been independently established, so we are passing it along the way you pass hot soup: carefully, and with both hands.

Adebutu himself posted on X that he remains a duly registered member of the PDP. He says he completed his digital registration within the deadline, that his membership card was printed and verified, and that his documents reached INEC on time. Printed. Verified. In Nigeria, that is the holy trinity of “I have the receipt.” Anyone who has argued with a bank over a transfer knows the confidence that comes from holding a screenshot.

Meanwhile, two groups had alleged that his name was missing from the register submitted to INEC. So the card says yes, the list says no, and the register is keeping a respectful silence, like a witness who just wants to go home.

Adebutu also pointed out that candidates from other parties appeared on the lists for the House of Assembly, the Reps and the Senate, which makes his omission stand out the way one missing tooth does in a smile.

The APC, according to a headline we saw, has told the PDP to “stop the blame game.” Which is rich, because in Nigerian politics blame is our most abundant renewable resource. We cannot always guarantee light, but we always have plenty of blame. It is distributed free, and nobody has ever queued for it.

And INEC? Its documents did not state a reason, and no explanation was reported. It is playing the role it knows best: the referee who watches the argument with a calm face and a stopwatch.

The PDP has urged members and residents to remain “calm and vigilant.” Calm so you do not riot, vigilant so you do not sleep. Adebutu says the party will pursue the matter “through the appropriate legal and institutional channels,” a sentence that has launched a thousand court cases and cancelled many Christmas holidays.

The moral is this: if you are going to the airport of politics, do not carry only the boarding pass. Carry the card, the register, the screenshot, the lawyer, and a very strong sense of humour. You will need all of them.