The election of Dr. Alex Otti, the incumbent governor of Abia State, and all other candidates running on the Labor Party’s ticket in the states of Abia and Kano has been declared invalid by a Federal High Court sitting in Kano and presided over by Justice M N Yunusa.
The court determined that their ascension did not follow the guidelines of the 2022 Electoral Act.
The Labour 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, according to the court in Suit No. FHC/KN/CS/107/2023 brought by Mr. Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and INEC.
The Judge held that the votes given to the first defendant were wasted because “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.”
The Labour Party said that a “breakaway group” within the party, under the leadership of acting National Chairman Lamidi Apapa, had gone to court in Kano State to ask for the party’s recent electoral victory to be thrown out.
“The Labour Party has been informed of an illegal attempt by a breakaway group in the party led by Lamidi Apapa to influence a Kano state High court to invalidate all the elections won by the Labour Party in the recently concluded general election”, according to the LP’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, who first raised the alarm in a statement.
This current court ruling has sent shock waves across the nation and Labour Party supporters especially. While it is expected that the affected parties will appeal the court ruling, there is yet to be seen any official reaction from their camps.
