A Federal High Court in Kano State, northern Nigeria, has voided the emergence of Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti as candidate of the Labour Party (LP) and other candidates in Abia and Kano States.
In a judgment delivered on Friday by Justice M N Yunusa, in which the copy of the judgement was seen by Daily Post, the judge ruled that their emergence was not in compliance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act Amended.
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 (INEC), 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.
“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,” the Judge ruled.
Recall on Wednesday, May 18, the LP had accused a “breakaway group” of the party led by acting National Chairman Lamidi Apapa of approaching a court in Kano State to seek the nullification of the party’s recent electoral victories.
This was raised in a statement issued by the party’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh.
He said: “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.”
Mr Ifoh alleged that “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.”
Mr Ifoh added that Oyelekan, who claimed as a representative of the party, did not oppose the motion, thus forcing the helpless judge to reserve judgement for Thursday, (yesterday).
Ifoh went on to ask 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’s had ceased to represent the party.
