Kano Court Nullifies Abia Gov-Elect Alex Otti’s Candidature

• All Labour Party candidates in Abia, Kano

With just days to the May 29 inauguration of a new administration in the country, a Federal High Court sitting in Kano has nullified the candidature of the Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti and all the candidates of the Labour Party (LP) in both Abia and Kano States.

The court presided over by Justice M N Yunusa ruled that their emergence was not in compliance with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.

A copy of the judgment obtained on Friday morning indicated that the Court, in the 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.

According to Justice Yunusa; “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 Labour Party had on Wednesday accused the group led by factional acting National Chairman Lamidi Apapa of clandestinely approaching a court in Kano State to seek the nullification of the party’s recent electoral victories.

Raising the alarm in a statement, the Party’s acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, 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.”

He further 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.”

He said it was curious that Akingbade, who presented himself as representing the Labour Party, did not oppose the motion, thus forcing the helpless judge to reserve judgement for Thursday, (yesterday).

Urging 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 Labour Party, Ifoh said the Party would not be distracted by those he described as ‘moles’ in LP and ‘enemies of democracy’ in the country.