2023 Elections: Accept LP Candidates In 24 States Court Orders INEC
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the nominations of candidates of the Labour Party (LP) in 24 states of the Federation ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The court ordered that the electoral body must accept the list of the candidates, either manually or through its electronic nomination portal.
Delivering judgement, Justice Ekwo held that INEC violated Sections 31, 33 and 36 of the Electoral Act 2022 in rejecting the LP candidates in the affected states on the ground of non-functional of its nomination portal.
Some of the affected states by the court order are Kwara, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, Benue, Bauchi, Ebonyi and Ekiti.
Others are Katsina, Bayelsa, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Borno, Osun, Adamawa and Cross River states.
Justice Ekwo said the consequence of the non-functional electronic nomination portal could not be visited on LP and its candidates.
The judge upheld the argument by the plaintiff that INEC lacked the powers to reject candidates duly nominated by a party, and which names it submitted to the electoral umpire until 90 days before the general elections.
He noted that when the LP sought to submit the list of its candidates in the 24 states, it was still more than 90 days to the 2023 general elections, and therefore, the party was within the time allowed by law.
The judge held that INEC was bound to accept the candidates’ list manually if its electronic nomination portal is faulty.
He then ordered INEC to open its website for the purpose of allowing the LP to submit the list of its candidates or accept the same manually with immediate effect.
The Labour Party had last year November conducted substitution nomination for its candidates who withdrew from the 2023 general elections in the affected states.
The withdrawals were communicated to INEC by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the party along with notification of October 27 date to conduct substitution nomination primary elections.
However, at the point of uploading the fresh candidates names, INEC claimed that its nomination portal was faulty and declined to accept the candidates list manually promoting the 24 legal actions.
The judge subsequently ordered INEC to open its website for the purpose of allowing the Labour Party to submit list of its candidates or accept same manually with immediate effect for the purpose of the 2023 general elections.
