A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept the candidates of the Labour Party (LP) nominated in 24 states to participate in the forthcoming elections.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in multiple judgments on Thursday, ordered INEC to accept the lists of the candidates from the 24 states either manually or through its electronic nomination portal.
The judgments were on 24 cases filed by the LP, in which he held that INEC violated sections 31, 33, and 36 of the Electoral Act 2022 in rejecting the candidates on the excuse that its nomination portal was not functioning.
Some of the affected States include Kwara, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos, Kaduna, Oyo, Benue, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Ekiti, and Katsina.
Others are Bayelsa, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Borno, Osun, Adamawa and Cross River.
Justice Ekwo said the consequence of the non-functional electronic nomination portal could not be visited on LP and its candidates.
The judge upheld the argument of the plaintiff that INEC lacks the power to reject candidates duly nominated by a party, and which names it submitted to the electoral umpire until 90 days before the general elections.
He noted that when the LP sought to submit the list of its candidates in the 24 states, it was still more than 90 days to the 2023 general elections, and therefore, the party was within the time allowed by law.
The judge held that INEC is duty bound to accept the candidates’ list manually if its electronic nomination portal is faulty.
He then ordered INEC to open its website for the purpose of allowing the LP to submit the list of its candidates or accept the same manually with immediate effect.
The plaintiff stated that the candidates emerged from the substitution nomination primary elections it conducted in November in the 24 states when some of its earlier candidates withdrew.
It added that the party’s National Chairman and National Secretary communicated the withdrawal of the earlier candidates to INEC, along with notification of the October 27 date to conduct substitution nomination primary elections.
The LP stated that at the point of uploading the fresh candidates’ names, INEC claimed that its nomination portal was faulty and declined to accept the candidates’ list manually.