Share this
7th August, 2025
OFFICE OF NATIONAL YOUTH LEADER, LABOUR PARTY
PRESS RELEASE
INEC TRYING TO STRANGLE THE LABOUR PARTY – A CALL FOR ACTION, LABOUR PARTY YOUTHS TO OCCUPY INEC HEADQUARTERS/OFFICES
The Labour Party youths have been following with keen interest the developments where the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, under the leadership of Prof Mahmood Yakubu, continues to conduct constitutionally administrative affairs like a sole administrator cum personal business. The latest being an omission of our party’s candidates in its published list of candidates in the August bye-elections without any explanation.
This act can only be described as rascality and pure exhibition of impunity against an established political institution like Labour Party.
It’s on record that the current INEC Chairman will be remembered notoriously as a referee who changes the goal post in the middle of every game he has officiated.
The unstable disposition of INEC Chairman has reflected heavily on the various stagared elections outcomes in Nigeria. Government business is conducted via correspondences, but these have been bastardized by Prof Mahmood such that the commission takes stringent decisions without recourse to principles of due process, fairness, and communication.
For instance, since after the Supreme Court judgement, which restated the supremacy of the political party, INEC
has selectively worked with the Labour Party, deciding the elections to monitor and the ones not to monitor. They attended our party primary in Anambra after the supreme court judgement. They again, on the last day of nomination, gave the Abure led Labour Party the code to nominate the governorship candidate for Anambra State in July. The same INEC one month down the line has omitted the party’s candidates for the August bye-election.
If we may ask, how long does it take INEC to evaluate a clear Supreme Court judgement that they were not party to despite having under her employment many qualified lawyers and a full legal department after four months???
INEC owes Nigerians a big explanation of ‘at what point does Labour Party stop having leadership’???
INEC must tell Nigerians why they have been atrociously interfacing directly with candidates of political parties instead of the political parties itself.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not have the legal powers to exclude Labour Party’s candidates from participating in the upcoming bye-elections.
According to Section 29(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, political parties are required to conduct their primaries and submit a list of candidates to INEC with due notification of INEC on the dates of the primaries, and ofcourse it is at the prerogative of INEC to attend or not.
The law is clear that INEC can not arrogate to itself the power to stop a political party from sponsoring a candidate in an election, provided the party adheres to the requirements of the Electoral Act.
INEC’s role is to oversee the electoral process, ensuring compliance with the law, but it can not take sides in internal party disputes or exclude candidates without valid reasons. INEC is mandated to perform a complimentary oversight on political parties and not a destructive oversight.
INEC’s mandate includes organizing, undertaking, and supervising elections, as outlined in Paragraph 15 of the Third Schedule of the Constitution. However, this mandate does not grant INEC the power to interfere with the internal affairs of political parties or exclude candidates without justification. INEC’s decision to exclude LP candidates from participating in the August bye-elections without valid reasons would be ultra vires and a breach of the Electoral Act.
Labour Party, as an independent political entity, has the right to participate in the electoral process, and INEC must respect this right while ensuring compliance with the law.
Given the above background…
1. We demand INEC to immediately without further delay, include Labour Party candidates on the ballot within 72 hours to enable our candidates to prepare for the election.
2. We demand that henceforth, INEC should stop responding to both elected and non elected members of political parties as it falls outside their constitutional provisions to deal with groups or individual members of political parties. INEC is backed by law to interfere and regulate political parties, not their members.
3. Every political party has their internal mechanism for conflict resolution, and parties are built on the discipline of its members. We must support party supremacy as former candidates of the party can not be given the leverage to hijack or suffocate the party that nominated them for elections.
4. We demand that INEC should stop forthwith interfering or meddling with Labour Party internal democracy.
The party’s NEC and Convention have made their decisions and elected their leaders in a well conducted and attended Labour Party National Convention on 27th March 2024 as chaired by the governor of Abia State, who was represented physically by his Deputy Governor, Engr Ikechukwu Emetu accompanied by the entire Abia State Exco members including the speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, where he declared and returned the current Abure led executives as duly elected leaders of the party.
It is not in INEC’s position to introduce crisis in the party, rather, it is expected that INEC continues to respect the supremacy of the Labour Party Constitution.
It is also important to remind INEC that it is in their interest to protect and preserve the supremacy of the political party’s Constitution against the attack of political intruders and system hijackers.
Finally, we call on all the leaders of the party to come back home and come into the room so we can continue with the love of papa mama pikin.
Prince Kennedy Ahanotu
National Youth Leader
Labour Party
