May 19, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court sitting in Kano has nullified the candidature of the Abia State Governor-elect, Alex Otti and all the candidates of the Labour Party (LP) in Abia and Kano States, over non-compliance with the provisions of the 2022 electoral act.
Justice M.N. Yunusa delivered the judgment in suit No. FHC/KN/CS/107/2023, filed by Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim, against the LP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
A copy of the judgement delivered by the court was made public on Friday morning.
According to the court, the failure of the Party to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries render the process invalid.
“The party that has not complied with the provisions of the electoral act cannot be said to have candidates in an election and cannot be declared winner of an election. This being so, the votes credited to the 1st defendant is a wasted vote,” the Judge ruled.
The LP candidate was declared the winner of the March 18 Abia gubernatorial election by the INEC after winning 10 of the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the State and polled 175,467 votes.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Okey Ahiwe, polled a total of 88,529 votes while Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) came third with 28,972 votes.
INEC’s State Returning Officer, Professor Nnenna Oti, declared Otti as the Governor-elect, having polled the highest number of votes and having fulfilled the requirements to be named the Governor-elect.
