…annuls Otti, all LP candidates’ elections in Abia, Kano
A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has annulled the candidature and election of the Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti and all the candidates of the Labour Party in Abia and Kano states, respectively.
The court presided over by Justice M N Yunusa ruled that their emergence as LP candidates for the 2023 general elections was not in compliance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.
A copy of the judgement delivered by the court and obtained on Friday morning indicated that the Court in Suit No FHC/KN/CS/107/2023 filed by Mr Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission, ruled that the failure of the LP to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries rendered the process invalid.
“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,” Justice Yunusa ruled.
Recall that on Wednesday, LP had accused a faction of the party led by acting National Chairman, Lamidi Apapa, of approaching a court in Kano State to seek the annulment of the party’s recent electoral victories.
LP’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, who raised the alarm in a statement, had stated, “The Labour Party has been informed of an illegal attempt by a breakaway group in the party led by Lamidi Apapa to misguide a Kano state High court to invalidate all the elections won by the Labour Party in the just concluded general election.”
“The suspended National Legal Adviser and a key member of the disgraced Apapa group, Samuel Akingbade Oyelekan, on Wednesday, while the Presidential Appeal Tribunal was sitting in Abuja with all attentions focused on it, clandestinely sneaked out of Abuja to Kano State, where he, in collaboration with some members of the other political parties, asked the court to invalidate all the elections won by the Labour Party, particularly, the National Assembly in the 36 states and FCT on the ground that we didn’t submit register of voters to INEC.”
Ifoh added that Akingbade, who presented himself as representing LP, did not oppose the motion, thus forcing the helpless judge to reserve judgement for Thursday, (yesterday).
The LP spokesman requested 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.