A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue the Julius Abure-led leadership of the Labour Party, LP, access code to its portal for the forthcoming Ondo State governorship election.
Justice Emeka Nwite, while delivering the judgment, also ordered that henceforth, INEC should accord the leadership of Abure all the rights and privileges due to any registered political party in the country.
Recall that the Labour Party under Abure’s leadership, had sued INEC as sole defendant in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024.
The LP had claimed to have been excluded from participating in the refresher training conducted in August by INEC to familiarise staff from each registered political party’s Information Technology (IT) Department on how to upload details of parties’ agents into the INEC portal.
It said the political parties were also issued access code to access INEC’s portal for the purpose of uploading agents’s information in respect of the Ondo governorship election fixed for Nov. 16.
In a supporting affidavit, Abure had stated that following the death of the national chairman of the LP, he was lawfully elected as the acting national chairman of the party at a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party that held in Benin City, Edo, on March 29, 2021.
He averred that in line with the consensus that was reached at the party’s NEC meeting held on April 18, 2023 in Asaba, Delta and duly monitored by INEC, the LP subsequently held its national convention on March 27, 2024, at Nnewi in Anambra, where he was elected to the office of national chairman of the party.
He said the party under his leadership produced candidates for governorship elections in both Edo and Ondo states in the names of Olumide Akpata and Olorunfemi Ayodele Festus.
Abure added that since his election at the Nnewi convention, INEC had related to him as the chairman of the LP, among which was an invitation sent to him on June 28, along with 18 other national chairmen of political parties, for the inspection of sensitive election materials for the Ondo and Edo governorship polls.
He said he was taken aback when INEC failed to extend to him a later notice for political parties to nominate two persons from their IT unit to undertake training on how to upload data to INEC’s portal for the impending Ondo State election.
Abure stated that he became aware of the existence of the said notice of the training by INEC, on Aug. 21 because he is a member of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).
He argued that his exclusion, and by extension, his party from the training on how to upload agents’ information was unlawful.
Delivering the judgement, Justice Nwite held that in view of the credible and verifiable documentary evidence presented by the plaintiff, the INEC failed in its “attempt to impeach the validity of the leadership of the plaintiff.”
“I hereby make an order compelling the defendant (INEC) to accord the plaintiff’s political party, under the leadership of Julius Abure, all the rights and privileges accorded a political party duly registered in Nigeria,” he said.
The judge also ordered INEC to conduct, for staff of the plaintiff, refresher training for the upload of LP’s agents into the INEC portal.