Just barely one month to the Federal Capital Territory area council elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that it would not recognise any Labour Party candidate for the polls, pending the determination of cases involving the party in the courts of law.
Recall that the LP has been embroiled in factional struggles, and only recently, members of the party, believed to be loyal to the Julius Abure-led faction, staged a protest at the INEC headquarters in Abuja over the exclusion of the party’s candidates from participating in the forthcoming February 21 FCT area council elections.
LP members said the protest was against INEC’s refusal to comply with a court order directing the Commission to issue access codes to enable the party to upload the particulars of its candidates.
Addressing the protesters, INEC National Commissioner, Prof Adullahi Zuru, assured that he would personally hand over the court order presented by the party members to the Commission chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, and the Commission will act appropriately on it.
However, in a statement signed by its Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Eta-Messi, INEC said LP had been enmeshed in prolonged internal leadership disputes since 2024, culminating in the Supreme Court’s judgment in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025 (Usman v. Labour Party) delivered on April 4, 2025.
Eta-Messi said in that judgment that the apex Court unequivocally held that the tenure of the Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee had expired; yet, despite the clear pronouncement, the Abure-led faction purportedly conducted primaries for the nationwide August 16, 2025, bye-election and the FCT area council elections.
Following this development, INEC has stood its ground, stating that it will not recognise any candidate from any LP faction pending the determination of all cases.
Eta-Messi insisted, “Given that the matter is subjudice, INEC will continue to respect the sanctity of the judicial process and await the final determination of the pending cases.
“The Commission reiterates its unwavering commitment to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, as well as its Regulations and Guidelines, and will continue to hold political parties accountable to democratic standards and the Rule of Law in the conduct of their internal affairs.”
