A Nasarawa State High Court order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party to upload its list of candidates for the upcoming Federal Capital Territory council elections has led to fresh disagreement among party leaders and their supporters.
While the Abure-led faction is celebrating the ruling as a win for democracy, the party’s Interim National Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, has dismissed it.
Reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the Abure faction, Obiora Ifoh, described the court’s intervention as a welcome development, calling it “an order which will right the many wrongs meted out to the authentic leadership of the party.”
According to him, “We received this intervention with a heart full of gratitude. We are, however, hoping that INEC, as a law-abiding institution, will do the needful by formally publishing the names of our nominees for the bye election and the FCT council elections without further delay.
“We are, however, not happy that our candidates have not been given equal opportunity and time to campaign like other political parties.
“As it stands now, our candidates, due to reasons not of theirs, were prevented from campaigning.
“This is clearly a systemic route orchestrated by INEC to perpetually prevent the Labour Party and their candidates from favourably participating in elections.
“Recall that in Ondo State, INEC granted the Labour Party’s governorship candidate access codes barely 24 hours before the election. This has become a norm, and we will not take such treatment any longer,” Ifoh said on Friday.
“We expect nothing but victory in all these contested offices. We also call on members of the party in the affected states to once more show their indomitable and ‘never die spirit’ to return our candidates.”
The court had ordered INEC to grant exclusive recognition to Barrister Julius Abure and Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim as the legitimate leaders of the Labour Party.
In his ruling on suit No. NSD/LF.84/2024, delivered on July 23, 2025, Justice Mustapha Ramat of the Nasarawa State High Court had also issued an interlocutory order directing INEC to provide Abure and Ibrahim with access codes to upload the names and details of their nominated candidates for the upcoming bye-elections and FCT Area Council polls, as scheduled by the commission.
“INEC has refused to publish the names of the nominated candidates by the Labour Party in a bye-election scheduled to hold on Saturday as well as the FCT council elections scheduled for early 2026,” Ifoh stated.
“Finally, we urge our candidates not to be undaunted or dismayed by these glaring limitations. The Labour Party is a household name.
