INEC’s Alleged Complicity

in Labour Party’s Crisis

The unresolved dispute between the Nenadi Usman and Julius Abure factions of the Labour Party has raised suspicion of alleged collusion between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the ruling All Progressives Congress to tilt the political field against the opposition party, Davidson Iriekpen writes

The dispute between the Nenadi Usman and Julius Abure factions of the Labour Party (LP) took a different turn last Wednesday when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gave reasons for denying the party access codes to upload candidates for the February 21, 2026, Federal Capital Territory Area Council election.

The commission’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mrs. Victoria Ewa-Messi, stated that the party’s prolonged leadership crisis and multiple court cases informed the decision.

LP supporters had protested at INEC headquarters in Abuja last Monday, alleging that the commission excluded their candidates from the election and withheld access codes needed to upload their names. They demanded the inclusion of their candidates in the upcoming Area Council elections in Abuja.

The protesters described the exclusion as a deliberate attempt to de-recorganise the party despite a subsisting court order in its favour and vowed to occupy INEC’s premises until the commission complied with the order.

But addressing the protesters, INEC’s National Commissioner, Abdullahi Abdul Zuru acknowledged the challenges posed by “conflicting court orders” but assured them that the commission would act in accordance with the law.

On Wednesday, the commission however said the protest was unnecessary, insisting that the matter was already before different the courts and therefore amounting to subjudice. It recalled that the leadership crisis in the party culminated in a Supreme Court judgment delivered on April 4, 2025, which held that the tenure of the National Executive Committee led by Abure had expired.

The statement said, “Despite this clear pronouncement, the Abure-led faction purportedly conducted primaries for the August 16, 2025, by-election nationwide and the FCT Area Council election.”

INEC further noted that subsequent cases filed by the party seeking to compel the commission to issue access codes had either been dismissed or were still pending in court. It explained that although a High Court in Abuja granted an interim ex parte order on December 16, 2025, directing it to upload LP’s candidates, the order expired after seven days and was not extended.

“Accordingly, there is presently no subsisting court order for INEC to act upon,” INEC stated.

It maintained that it would await final court decisions before taking any action on the matter.

Recall that following the Supreme Court’s judgment which ruled that Abure’s tenure had expired, the Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC had in 2025 derecognised his faction and invalidated the list of all the candidates submitted by the faction for the nationwide by-elections held on August 16, 2025.

The final list of candidates published by the commission copiously excluded all the candidates presented by Abure and his factional National Working Committee (NWC).

While the faction described INEC’s action as unlawful and an abuse of power, the Senator Usman-led faction viewed the decision as a welcome development, stating that it was in line with the Supreme Court’s judgment of April 4, 2025.

Since the 2023 general election, the LP has been enmeshed in a prolonged internal crisis that is tearing it apart. Ironically, INEC contributed to it. 

After his tenure as national chairman of the party expired, Abure organised a national convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, without the commission’s presence. His faction insisted that it had complied with the law by notifying the electoral umpire. But INEC declined to monitor or recognise the said convention because, according to it, it was not conducted in line with the party’s constitution.

The commission subsequently failed to recognise Abure as the national chairman of the party, claiming that his tenure had expired.

This led the embattled national chairman to institute an action at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the commission, seeking judicial affirmation of his chairmanship which the court later recognised.

INEC appealed the judgment. But while the appeal was pending, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State; the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi; his running mate Datti Baba-Ahmed and other members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) convened a meeting in Umuahia on September 4, 2024, where they sacked the entire Abure-led NWC.

They also appointed Usman, a former Minister of Finance and ex-senator representing Kaduna South, to lead a 29-member caretaker committee and facilitate the election of a new party leadership within 90 days.

On January 17, 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled that its earlier decision in November 2024, recognising Abure as the party’s chairman, remained valid and had not been overturned by any court. 

Usman vehemently faulted the decision and challenged it at the Supreme Court. While the appeal was pending at the apex court, Abure filed a cross-appeal.

On April 4, 2025, the Supreme Court found Usman’s appeal meritorious and overturned the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal that recognised Abure as the national chairman of the party.

The apex court also dismissed Abure’s cross-appeal and held that the Appeal Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case, being an issue of internal affairs of the party. It urged political parties to respect their constitutions and internal processes, and implored officials whose tenures had expired to vacate their positions.

But the apex court’s verdict was subjected to different interpretations. While Abure contended that he was not removed from office, Usman argued that Abure had been sacked.

To clarify the leadership situation, a delegation of the party led by Governor Otti and Obi visited INEC headquarters in Abuja on April 9, 2025, where Otti submitted a Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court’s judgment to the electoral body. The delegation was received by the INEC National Commissioner, Sam Olumekun, and other senior officials who reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to neutrality, transparency, and the rule of law in carrying out its responsibilities.

But since that visit, INEC has yet to make its official position public, fuelling speculations that it is aiding the destabilisation of the party to the benefit of the ruling APC.

While reacting to enquiries in May 2025 on why it had not taken a position on the leadership crisis in the party, the Chief Press Secretary to the then INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, in a statement noted that the commission was carefully studying the verdict and would communicate its decision to the public in due course.

Rather than recognise the Usman’s faction, based on the Supreme Court judgment, the new INEC chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who should understand the judgment better, seems to be toeing the path of his predecessor, Yakubu, thus fuelling rumours that indeed the commission was colluding with APC to destabilise opposition parties, especially as the general election is fast approaching.

The questions the electoral commission needs to give clarity to are: Why does it not want to implement, uphold or obey the Supreme Court? Why is Abure still parading himself as the national chairman of the Labour Party? If he again went to the Federal High Court after the Supreme Court judgment, should that put the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict? No matter the decisions of the High Courts currently hearing Abure’s cases, will they override the judgment of the Supreme Court of April 4, 2025?

For the crisis in the party to be resolved, INEC must act transparently and objectively. It needs to be bold, courageous and fair.