Former Kaduna Central Senator Shehu Sani has advised politicians excluded from the final electoral list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept their fate and avoid unnecessary legal battles.
The electoral body recently published its final list after a Supreme Court judgement affirmed the constitutionality of the Electoral Act 2026. The ruling restricts political parties from fielding candidates whose names are absent from the membership registers submitted to the commission within the stipulated timeframe.
Dawn Herald reported that several prominent political figures were dropped from the ballot including the former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isah Ali Pantami, who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to vie for the Gombe State governorship seat, Ladi Adebutu in Ogun State and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate in Kano State, Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo.
The former senator warned legal practitioners against misleading aggrieved politicians into filing fresh lawsuits over the Supreme Court judgement.
“The Supreme Court ruling that enabled INEC to exclude some names of candidates is very clear. Affected candidates should not waste their money, time and energy fighting a lost battle,” Sani stated.
The human rights activist also appealed to senior lawyers to exercise restraint and stop encouraging aggrieved aspirants to initiate litigation to exploit their desperation.
“I also wish to appeal to those Barristers and SANs to ‘pity’ those candidates and allow them to rest, and not mislead them into spending more money ‘filing fresh suits’. Four years will come and go; let them strategise for the future,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sani recently secured the ticket to run as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Kaduna Central Senatorial seat ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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