Labour Party Loses Only State

By Akinwale Kasali

Unless there is a counter order by a superior Court, the Labour Party, LP, has come out of the Governorship election empty handed.

At the end of the Election which held in March, 2023, the LP was declared winner in Abia State, defeating the incumbent Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

However, the State has been taken away from the LP, no thanks to a judgement delivered by the  Federal High Court in Kano State which nullified the candidature of Alex Otti.

Sacked with Otti is all the other Labour Party Candidates in Abia and Kano States.

Justice Mohammed Sanusi in his ruling said that the emergence of the Labour Candidates was not in compliance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.

A copy of the judgement delivered by the court was revealed today Friday, May 19th, 2023.

In the Suit filed by Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party, LP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the court ruled that the failure of the Labour Party to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries renders the process invalid.

Justice Sanusi ruled that the party 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.

It, therefore, stated that the votes credited to Otti was a wasted vote.

The Abia ruling is not a precedence. In 2019, the Court sacked the APC Governor-elect of Zamfara State and all the elected APC candidates and gave victory to the PDP.