36 State Labour Party elected Chairmen, Warn INEC Against Monitoring Of Factional Congresses, Says It’s institutional sabotage

Date: Tuesday 14^th February, 2026.

COMMUNIQUÉ/OPEN LETTER BY THE FORUM OF DULY ELECTED STATE CHAIRMEN OF THE LABOUR PARTY ON THE URGENT NEED TO PRESERVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY STRUCTURES AND THE RULE OF LAW

The Chairman
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory

We, the duly elected State Chairmen of the Labour Party, who emerged from duly conducted and INEC-monitored State Congresses held on the 6th of December 2025 across the Federation, write to the Commission and to the Nigerian public on a matter of grave constitutional and democratic concern.

We are compelled to issue this communiqué in light of credible information available to us suggesting that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may be under pressure, or is being influenced, to monitor or recognize a fresh round of so-called “State Congresses” by a faction of the Party that has no legal or constitutional foundation.

Let it be Clear: This is not politics. This is an attempted institutional sabotage.

For the avoidance of doubt:

1. The Ward, LGA and State Congresses of the Labour Party were duly conducted nationwide on the 2nd, 4th, and 6th December2025 respectively;
2. Statutory notice was issued to the Commission in compliance with Section 82(1) of the Electoral Act2022;
3. The said Congresses were monitored by INEC pursuant to Section 82(5); and
4. The outcomes of those Congresses are part of the official records of the Commission.

We are therefore not self-appointed actors. We are products of a completed statutory and democratic process duly conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, monitored by INEC and recognized by law.

Our mandated is rooted in law, not convenience. It cannot be brushed aside, tampered with or replaced by administrative fiat in flagrant violation of the Electoral Act, the INEC Regulations and Guidelines and the Constitution of the Labour Party.

On the 16^th February, 2026, INEC decisively rejected the request by Sen. Nenadi Usman to recognize the purported dissolution of duly elected Party structures, on the clear grounds that the action was taken “without giving statutory notice to the Commission and without authority to act under your Party Constitution.”

This position by INEC is unequivocal and remains unchallenged.

Our concern, therefore, is that as at today, there is no evidence whatsoever that the fundamental deficiency identified by INEC—being the lack of constitutional authority to act—has been cured, remedied, suddenly manufactured, lawfully conferred, or validly derived. Any suggestion to the contrary is baseless, contrived, and legally untenable. Consequently, there is no legitimate or constitutional foundation upon which INEC justifiably reconsider and reverse its earlier, unchallenged position or lend credence to the monitoring of any illegal and purported parallel congresses.

One cannot build legality on a foundation already declared defective. Any attempt to proceed on that basis would be a continuation of the same illegality previously indentified and rejected by INEC.

The law is clear and unambiguous:

1. Section223(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)

Mandates that party leadership must emerge through periodic democratic elections.

2. Section 82 of the Electoral Act2022

Regulates the conduct of congresses and requires:

1. Statutory notice to INEC,
2. Transparency in process,
3. Monitoring by the Commission.
4. COMPLETED CONGRESSES CANNOT BE ADMINISTRATIVELY NULLIFIED

Once congresses have been:

1. Conducted with due notice,
2. Monitored by INEC,
3. And concluded,

They become completed statutory acts. And such processes cannot be set aside:

1. By internal party correspondence,
2. By administrative declaration,
3. Or by factional arrangements.

Consequently, no authority other than a court of competent jurisdiction can nullify congresses duly monitored by INEC. Until and unless such a court so determines, those Congresses—and all the structures emanating and deriving their legitimacy therefrom—remain valid, lawful, subsisting, and fully binding.

Any attempt to conduct or recognize fresh State Congresses while the existing congresses remain valid, and No court order has nullified them would amount to:

1. Duplication of leadership structures,
2. Destabilization of party organization,
3. Undermining of INEC’s own monitored processes
4. Erosion of public confidence in electoral regulation.

It would also raise fundamental questions about the sanctity of INEC-monitored exercises.

We wish to let INEC know that it cannot validate a process today and undermine it tomorrow.

Hence if INEC now turns around to monitor or recognize parallel congresses while its own monitored processes remain valid:

1. It will be seen as a direct contradiction of its own records;
2. It will destroy the credibility of its own oversight and erode public confidence in the Commission;
3. It will send a dangerous signal that lawful processes can be discarded; and
4. It will create chaos in Party administration

Our point is that if a completed, INEC-monitored Congresses can be ignored and replaced, then:

1. No Party structure is safe;
2. No internal democracy is guaranteed; and
3. No electoral process is credible

Today it is Labour Party. Tomorrow it could be any Party.

The national leadership dispute within the Party is presently before the Court of Appeal and INEC is a party to that appeal.

 

In these circumstances, it is expected that all parties:

1. Exercise restraint,
2. Preserve existing structures,
3. Avoid actions capable of prejudicing or rendering the appeal nugatory.

Proceeding to monitor or recognize fresh congresses at this stage risks altering the subject matter of the litigation.

INEC is not a passive observer. It is a constitutional institution entrusted with:

1. Protecting the integrity of democratic processes,
2. Ensuring compliance with the Electoral Act,
3. Maintaining neutrality and institutional consistency.

To the best of our knowledge INEC is not a rubber stamp for any faction and is obligated to act on:

1. Unlawful requests,
2. Procedurally defective processes,
3. Or politically motivated arrangements inconsistent with law.

INEC’s duty is to:

1. The Constitution
2. The Electoral Act
3. It own records
4. The Nigerian people

We state clearly and unequivocally:

1. The State Congresses of 2nd, 4th, and 6th December2025 remain valid and subsisting;
2. The leadership structures that emerged therefrom remain lawful;
3. Any parallel congresses conducted without lawful basis will be invalid;
4. Any recognition of such processes will be vigorously challenged.

We most respectfully urge the INEC to:

1. Decline to monitor or recognize any purported fresh State Congresses;
2. Preserve the status quo pending judicial determination;
3. Be guided by its own records of monitored congresses;
4. Uphold the Constitution and the Electoral Act;
5. Resist any pressure inconsistent with its constitutional mandate.

Democracy is not sustained by convenience. It is sustained by consistency, legality, and institutional courage.

If INEC-monitored congresses can be disregarded without judicial intervention, then the entire framework of electoral supervision becomes uncertain.

We believe that the Commission, under its current leadership led by a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), will not allow such a precedent to be set.

We remain committed to:
– The rule of law,
– Internal party democracy,
– Peaceful political engagement.

However, we will not hesitate to take all lawful steps to defend the integrity of the democratic process and the validity of the structures that emerged from it.

FORWARD EVER. BACKWARD NEVER.

Signed:

………………………………. Abdurrahim Imam Chindo Secretary, Forum of Elected State Chairmen/NEC Members For and on behalf of the 36 State Chairmen of the Labour Party (LP), Nigeria

CC:

– The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
– The President of the Senate
– The Honourable Speaker, House of Representatives
– Inspector-General of Police
– Director-General, DSS
– Chairman, IPAC – Secretary General, United Nations – International Republican Institute (IRI) – Kukah Foundation – Yaga Afrika – All Foreign Missions in Nigeria – All International Election Observers