Labour Party sues INEC over exclusion from Enugu senatorial by-election

The Labour Party (LP) has filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over alleged exclusion of the LP’s candidate from forthcoming senatorial by-election in Enugu State.

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INEC had scheduled a by-election for Enugu North District for 20 June following the death of Okey Ezea, the senator who represented the district.

Court action

A court document obtained by PREMIUM TIMES showed that the LP filed the lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against INEC on Monday, 8 June (today).

While the LP and its candidate for Enugu North District by-election, Simon Eze, were listed as plaintiffs, INEC was listed as the sole defendant in the suit.

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The LP asked the court to order accelerated hearing of the matter as well as leave to serve the defendant all the court processes through courier or substituted means.

The party also prayed the court to issue interlocutory injunction, restraining INEC from publishing final list of candidates for the district’s by-election or taking any further action that would foreclose or render nugatory the nomination or participation of Mr Eze as the LP’s candidate for the district’s by-election.

The LP argued that the issue was a pre-election matter governed by 285 (9) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended as well as the Federal High Court pre-election Practice Directive.

The party told the court that if the matter was not given accelerated hearing, the suit faces the risk of being overtaken by the poll and rendered nugatory.

No hearing date has been fixed for the suit.

Alleged exclusion

The national spokesperson of the LP, Ken Asogwa, said in a statement on Monday that the party had notified INEC on 11 May of its intention to conduct senatorial primaries on 25 May for the by-election after the commission released timetable for the rerun polls across Nigeria.

“At the well-attended primary election, which attracted thousands of party members from the six local government areas that make up the senatorial district, Amb. Simon Ejike Eze, a distinguished diplomat, emerged as the consensus candidate of the party.

“The party is, however, deeply concerned that despite complying with all statutory requirements and procedural guidelines, it was denied access to upload the particulars of its candidate on INEC’s nomination portal,” Mr Asogwa said.

The spokesperson said the LP stressed that until the close of submission window on 2 June, the party made efforts, including formal protests and correspondences to the INEC, but the commission failed to correct the exclusion.

“The Labour Party maintains that it fulfilled every legal and administrative obligation required under the Electoral Act and INEC’s extant regulations in the nomination of its candidate.

“It is therefore difficult to understand the basis upon which the party has been excluded from an election in which it has a legitimate and undeniable stake,” he said.

Tracing the issue

Suggesting a possible cause of the exclusion, Mr Asogwa claimed that the unnamed head of Elections and Party Monitoring in Enugu State justified his refusal to transmit the report of the LP’s primary election on the “flimsy ground” that he could not monitor the primaries because he was out of town on the date of the exercise.

“This excuse is untenable and raises serious questions about the discharge of official responsibilities.

“The Labour Party cannot be made to suffer the consequences of an official’s absence, negligence, incompetence, or dereliction of duty.

“Electoral processes and the constitutional rights of political parties cannot be subjected to the convenience or personal circumstances of individual officers,” he said.

“If indeed the officer was unavailable, it was incumbent upon him or the INEC in Enugu to ensure that appropriate arrangements were made for the monitoring and reporting of the exercise, rather than penalising a political party that duly complied with all statutory requirements.”

‘Primaries can’t be voided by INEC’S absence’

Mr Asogwa argued that the LP’s primaries remain valid despite absence of INEC officials during the exercise, stressing that the Electoral Act 2026 only requires political parties to notify the commission of their primaries which the LP, according to him, complied with.

“In effect, the legality and validity of the exercise cannot be vitiated by INEC’s absence, as neither the Electoral Act nor INEC’s regulation makes INEC’s physical presence a mandatory condition for the conduct or validity of a party primary election.

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“While the Labour Party continues to repose confidence in the leadership of INEC under the Chairmanship of Prof. Joash Amupitan, the party calls on the Commission to immediately investigate the actions taken by its senior staff in Enugu and take decisive action against any official found culpable,” he said.

“It would amount to a grave injustice for the Labour Party to be denied the opportunity of presenting a candidate in an election convened to fill a vacancy created by the death of one of its serving senators.”