Osun Central 2027: Fadeyi’s PDP Ticket Faces Fresh Legal Questions After Supreme Court Electoral Act Ruling
Reloaded News Desk
The Supreme Court’s restoration of key provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 has opened a fresh legal question over the eligibility of Senator Olubiyi Fadeyi, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Osun Central Senatorial District in the 2027 election.
Fadeyi, who was elected to the Senate on the PDP platform in 2023, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in February 2026 alongside other Osun lawmakers. He subsequently contested the APC senatorial primary for Osun Central but lost to Rasheed Adegoke, SAN. He later returned to the PDP and emerged as the party’s candidate for the district.
The Supreme Court on September 24 restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, holding that the provisions were not inconsistent with the Constitution.
Section 77(5) provides that only members whose names appear in a party’s membership register submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days before a primary, congress or convention are eligible to participate in the exercise.
Section 77(6) prevents a party from using a different register for such an exercise, while Section 77(7) prescribes consequences where a party fails to submit its register as required. Section 84(2) governs the recognised methods of nominating candidates.
Fadeyi’s case raises questions because of the sequence of his movements between the PDP and APC.
In July, former PDP aspirant Ibraheem Adekunle claimed that he had emerged from the party’s Osun Central senatorial primary and that his name had been submitted to INEC.
Adekunle also questioned how Fadeyi could have obtained a PDP waiver dated May 8, 2026 and subsequently participated in the APC primary on May 18. Those claims have been publicly reported but should be distinguished from established judicial findings.
Adekunle later left the PDP and is now contesting the Osun Central seat on the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
INEC’s published list of senatorial candidates, however, currently identifies Fadeyi Olubiyi Oluwole as the PDP candidate for Osun Central, while Adegoke is listed for the APC.
The central legal question is therefore not simply whether Fadeyi defected.
It is whether, at the relevant stages of the PDP nomination process, he satisfied the Electoral Act’s requirements concerning party membership, the applicable membership register, any waiver relied upon by the party, and the procedure through which the PDP nominated him.
The Supreme Court judgment itself did not determine those facts and did not issue an order disqualifying Fadeyi.
That distinction is important because the judgment concerns the validity of the statutory provisions, while any challenge to an individual candidate would require the application of those provisions to the candidate’s specific circumstances.
For Fadeyi, the chronology now likely to attract legal scrutiny is clear: PDP membership, defection to APC, APC primary, return to PDP, the alleged May 8 waiver, the PDP nomination dispute and his eventual appearance on INEC’s candidate list.
Whether that chronology creates a legal defect in his nomination is a matter for the relevant electoral and judicial processes to determine.
For now, Fadeyi remains the PDP’s listed candidate for Osun Central, while the Supreme Court ruling has introduced a new statutory framework under which the legality of party membership and nomination processes can be tested.
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