A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has nullified the candidature of all Labour Party (LP) candidates in Abia and Kano States.
Justice M. N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court said that the LP failed to comply with the electoral act’s provisions on Friday.
The court’s judgment also nullified Alex Otti, the governor-elect of Abia State, who was the LP candidate in the 2023 gubernatorial election.
“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 the winner of an election; this being so, the votes credited to the first defendant are a wasted vote,” Justice Yunusa ruled.
Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim had filed a lawsuit with Suit No. FHC/KN/CS/107/2023 against the Labour Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The suit cited LP’s failure to submit its membership register to INEC within 30 days before their primaries. That failure would render the LP candidacy process invalid, according to the suit.
INEC had declared Otti of the Labour Party the winner of the Abia State gubernatorial election on March 22.
Otti polled 175,467 votes, while Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) got 88,529 votes. Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young People’s Party (YPP) came third.
(FIJ)
