The Labour Party has appealed a Federal High Court decision from Kano that declared Alex Otti, the newly elected governor of Abia State, ineligible for the March 18 governorship election.
The court’s decision resulted from a case filed by Mr. Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the Labour Party and the Independent National Electoral Commission, with case number FHC/KN/CS/107/2023.
The court ruled that Alex Otti, the newly elected governor of Abia State, and other Labour Party candidates were not chosen in accordance with the rules outlined in the 2022 electoral act.
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The Labour Party’s failure to submit its membership register to INEC at least 30 days before their primaries was one of the key issues raised in the lawsuit. The court deemed this a violation and invalidated the entire selection process.
Additionally, the applicant asked the court to intervene in order to annul the Certificate of Returns given to each Labour Party candidate and order INEC to declare the first runner-up the winner in each constituency won by the Labour Party.
A party that has not complied with the electoral act’s requirements cannot be considered to have a candidate in an election and, as a result, cannot be declared the winner, Justice Yunusa ruled. As a result, the votes given to the first defendant (Labour Party) were ineffective votes. The judge refused to mandate the issuance of a Certificate of Return to any Abia State resident, stating that “the parties that participated in Abia State are not parties before this court.”
In response to the decision, Umeh Kalu, SAN, the legal representative for the Labour Party, filed an appeal on May 22 asking the court to overturn the trial court’s decision.