Some omissions from the published INEC lists of candidate were accidents. This one does not read like one.
The Social Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Oyo State, Mogaji Olusegun Abiodun Agboola, is missing from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) list. His name has still not been entered, even after the October 24 window for complaints closed and after he filed his affidavit as INEC directed. He has now been forced to the Federal High Court in Abuja.
*In our view, this is political, and the people of Oyo should treat it that way.*
The explanation that does not explain anything from
INEC says parties were dropped from the governorship lists because the Supreme Court, on September 24, upheld the membership-register rules in the Electoral Act 2026. That is a legal explanation for a legal category of cases. It has not told Oyo voters that the SDP in Oyo falls into that category, or what, specifically, is wrong with this candidate’s paperwork.
A commission that can cite a Supreme Court judgment can also cite a reason. When it cites only the former, the public is entitled to doubt the latter, especially when another candidate in one other party much after the SDP matter got listed.
The pattern speaks
This season has been marked by legal whiplash. A court voided parts of INEC’s 2027 timetable. Another affirmed INEC’s power but struck down specific deadlines. Appeal Court panels disagreed. Some dropped candidates elsewhere were later cleared and others were refused. In Osun, an SDP candidate reached the ballot only through a court order, three days before voting. In a system where outcomes depend so heavily on who files what, when, and before which judge, a missing name is easy to produce and expensive to correct.
Look at the timing
Agboola took the SDP ticket in substitution primary. *He promised to debate rivals publicly*. He argued for systemic solutions instead of “plasters” on Oyo’s problems. He was scheduled to set out his programme on Fresh FM 105.9, the same station where the current governor and his acolytes later appeared. His camp says rival parties responded quickly to the issues he raised. Within weeks of that noise, his name was off the list.
*Ask who gains*
We will not name names. The people of Oyo do not need us to. *Ask who benefits* when a fresh voice is missing from a crowded governorship field.
*Ask who gains* when the debate has one fewer participant and one fewer set of uncomfortable questions.
Ask whether a race already shaped by a sitting governor’s chosen successor, by defections and by established machines is made easier when a newcomer is held in litigation.
That is not an accusation of any named party. It is an invitation to reason from the facts.
*What INEC owes Oyo*
If the omission was an error, INEC must show how it happened, who handled the file, and why the name was not entered once the error was brought to its attention. If it was not an error, the Commission has to explain what it was. A body that insists it has no power to select, insert or substitute candidates should have no difficulty saying so under oath.
*The Federal High Court should hear this case quickly*.
The campaign season does not wait for judgments, and a remedy in January helps no one.
*The challenge to Agboola*
Being kept off the list is not the same as being the best candidate, we know. Allowing Agboola to be heard and now answer the questions he has invited on jobs, schools, clinics, roads, security and how all of it is paid for should be the focus.
Grievance alone will not carry a campaign, and the SDP will keep presenting its manifesto while its lawyers argue the case.
*Who is afraid of Agboola?*
That is for the discerning citizens and voters of Oyo State, and eventually the court, to correct.
*What is already clear is that Oyo deserves a list that does not need a judge to include every candidate but one that allows the display for all to chose the very best, without the suspicion of foul play*
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