A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has nullified the candidature of Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti, and all Labour Party candidates in Abia and Kano States. The ruling states that their emergence was not in compliance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act. The judgement delivered by Justice M N Yunusa affirms that the party’s failure to submit its membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within 30 days before their primaries renders the process invalid.
The court’s decision was the outcome of a suit filed by Mr Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and INEC. The Judge ruled that “The party that has not complied with the provisions of the electoral act cannot be said to have a candidate in an election and cannot be declared winner of an election; this being so, the votes credited to the 1st defendant is a wasted vote.”
The Labour Party had earlier accused a “breakaway group” of the party led by acting National Chairman, Lamidi Apapa, of working with members of other political parties to seek the nullification of the party’s recent electoral victories. Samuel Akingbade Oyelekan, the suspended National Legal Adviser, was alleged to have approached a Kano state High court to invalidate all the elections won by the LP. According to the party’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, Akingbade, who presented himself as representing the Labour Party, did not oppose the motion, thus forcing the judge to reserve judgement for Thursday.
The LP’s spokesman called on the judiciary and all law enforcement agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services, DSS, to note that Akingbade and loyalists of Apapa had ceased to represent the party. The nullification would likely cause a major upset in Abia State where Dr Alex Otti emerged victorious in the recently concluded elections.
