Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the Labour Party’s (LP) nomination of candidates in 24 states for the forthcoming general elections. The court directed INEC to receive the list of candidates either manually or through its electronic nomination portal.
In his judgments on 24 separate suits brought by the LP, Justice Ekwo held that INEC violated Sections 31, 33, and 36 of the Electoral Act 2022 by rejecting the party’s candidates on the grounds that its nomination portal was non‑functional. The states affected by the order include Kwara, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, Benue, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Katsina, Bayelsa, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Borno, Osun, Adamawa, and Cross River, among others.
The LP had conducted substitution nominations in November of last year after candidates withdrew from the general elections in the affected states. The withdrawals were communicated to INEC by the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary, together with notification of the October 27 deadline for the substitution primary elections. When the party attempted to upload the new candidates’ names, INEC claimed its nomination portal was faulty and refused to accept the list manually.
Justice Ekwo found the party’s evidence—exchanged letters with INEC concerning the nomination issue—to be credible and gave it probative value. He noted that the LP submitted its list more than 90 days before the general elections, which is within the legally permitted timeframe. Accordingly, the judge ordered INEC to open its website to allow the party to submit the list of candidates or to accept the list manually with immediate effect.
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