COURT NULLIFIES OTTI'S CANDIDATURE

The candidature of Dr. Alex Otti, the Governor-elect of Abia State, and all candidates of the Labour Party in Abia and Kano States have been nullified by a Federal High Court in Kano. Justice M N Yunusa presided over the court proceedings and ruled that their emergence as candidates did not comply with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act. The court judgment was obtained on Friday morning.

The case, identified as Suit No FHC/KN/CS/107/2023, was filed by Mr. Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The court ruled that the Labour Party's failure to submit its membership register to INEC within 30 days before their primaries rendered the entire process invalid.

According to the judge's ruling, a party that does not comply with the provisions of the electoral act cannot have a valid candidate in an election and cannot be declared the winner. Consequently, the votes credited to the Labour Party candidate were considered wasted votes.

Prior to the court ruling, the Labour Party had raised concerns about a breakaway group led by acting National Chairman Lamidi Apapa, which had allegedly approached a court in Kano to seek the nullification of the party's recent electoral victories. The party's acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, stated that the breakaway group, including Samuel Akingbade Oyelekan, the suspended National Legal Adviser, colluded with members of other political parties to invalidate the elections won by the Labour Party. They specifically targeted the national assembly elections across the 36 states and the FCT, claiming that the party did not submit the register of voters to INEC.

Ifoh further asserted that Akingbade, who purported to represent the Labour Party, did not oppose the motion, leading the judge to reserve judgment for the following day. The party spokesman called upon the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services (DSS), to take note that Akingbade and the loyalists of Apapa no longer represented the party.