With less than two weeks to the Enugu North Senatorial District by-election, a legal battle is unfolding that could test the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process and the rights of political parties to participate in democratic contests.
The Labour Party has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, challenging what it describes as its wrongful exclusion from the June 20 by-election, a poll necessitated by the death of its serving senator, the late Sen. Okey Ezea.
For the party, the issue goes beyond a single election. It is a fight over fairness, due process and the responsibility of electoral institutions to guarantee equal opportunities for all political actors.
According to the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, Labour Party fulfilled every legal and administrative requirement for the nomination of its candidate but was denied access to upload the candidate’s particulars on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination portal.
The party insists that it made repeated efforts to resolve the problem before the submission deadline of June 2, including formal protests and official correspondence with the electoral body. However, those efforts, it said, produced no solution.
At the centre of the controversy is an alleged explanation by the Head of Elections and Party Monitoring (EPM) in Enugu State, who reportedly attributed the failure to transmit the report of the party’s primary election to his absence from town on the day the exercise took place.
For Labour Party, such a justification is unacceptable.
The party argues that no political organisation should lose its constitutional right to contest an election because of the absence, negligence or administrative lapses of an electoral official.
“Electoral processes and the constitutional rights of political parties cannot be subjected to the convenience or personal circumstances of individual officers,” Asogwa said.
The dispute also raises broader questions about the interpretation of the Electoral Act. Labour Party maintains that the law only requires political parties to notify INEC of their primaries, a condition it says it fully satisfied.
According to the party, neither the Electoral Act nor INEC’s regulations make the physical presence of electoral officials a mandatory condition for the validity of a party primary election.
It further argues that if an official was unavailable, it was the responsibility of the commission to make alternative arrangements rather than penalise a party that had complied with the law.
The stakes are particularly significant because the by-election is being held to fill a vacancy created by the death of one of Labour Party’s own elected lawmakers. Denying the party the opportunity to present a candidate, it contends, would not only affect its supporters but also limit the democratic choices available to voters in Enugu North.
The case has once again placed the spotlight on the credibility of electoral institutions and the importance of public trust in democratic governance.
While expressing confidence in the leadership of INEC, the party has called for an investigation into the conduct of officials involved in the matter and urged the commission to take disciplinary action against anyone found culpable.
For Labour Party, protecting the sanctity of the electoral process is essential to preserving public confidence in Nigeria’s democracy.
“It would amount to a grave injustice for Labour Party to be denied the opportunity of presenting a candidate in an election convened to fill a vacancy created by the death of one of its serving senators,” the party stated.
As the courts prepare to determine the matter, the outcome could have implications beyond Enugu North. It may shape future debates about electoral accountability, administrative responsibility and the extent to which bureaucratic failures should affect the democratic rights of political parties and the electorate.
For now, the party has urged its members and supporters to remain calm, expressing confidence that the judiciary will ensure that justice and the rule of law prevail.
