The Labour Party (LP) has initiated legal proceedings against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the alleged exclusion of its candidate from the upcoming senatorial by-election in Enugu State. INEC had scheduled a by-election for Enugu North District on June 20 following the death of Senator Okey Ezea, who represented the district.
Court Action
A court document obtained by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that the LP filed the lawsuit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against INEC on Monday, June 8. The LP and its candidate for the Enugu North District by-election, Simon Eze, are listed as plaintiffs, while INEC is the sole defendant in the suit.
The LP has requested the court to order an accelerated hearing of the matter and to grant leave to serve the defendant all court processes through courier or substituted means. The party also seeks an interlocutory injunction to restrain INEC from publishing the final list of candidates for the district's by-election or taking any action that would foreclose or render nugatory the nomination or participation of Mr. Eze as the LP's candidate.
The LP argues that the issue is a pre-election matter governed by Section 285(9) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended, as well as the Federal High Court Pre-election Practice Directive. The party contends that without an accelerated hearing, the suit risks 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, stated in a release on Monday that the party had notified INEC on May 11 of its intention to conduct senatorial primaries on May 25 for the by-election, following the commission's release of the timetable for 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," Mr. Asogwa said. "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."
The spokesperson said the LP made efforts, including formal protests and correspondences to INEC, until the close of the submission window on June 2, 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 added.
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 the 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 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," he said.
"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. 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," he concluded.
