Juliet Buna
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to accept the nomination of candidates of the Labour Party in 24 States of the federation for the 2023 general elections.
According to Channels TV, The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled 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.
The 24 states affected by the court order are Kwara, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, Benue, Bauchi, Ebonyi and Ekiti states.
The rest are Katsina, Bayelsa, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Borno, Osun, Adamawa and Cross River States among others.
The judge subsequently ordered INEC to open its website for the purpose of allowing the Labour Party to submit a list of its candidates or accept the same manually with immediate effect for the purpose of the 2023 general elections.
The Labour Party had last year November conducted substitution nomination for its candidates who withdrew from the 2023 general elections in the affected states.