The Federal High Court in Abuja has affirmed Prince Yusuf Kadiri, SAN, as the deputy governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the upcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite on Thursday, the court held that the LP acted within its rights in nominating Kadiri as the running mate to its flag-bearer, Olumide Akpata.
Justice Nwite ruled that the electoral body had no right to reject Kadiri’s nomination, stating that the party’s actions were in accordance with the provisions of both the Electoral Act 2022 and the amended 1999 Constitution.
The issue arose when the governorship candidate of the LP, Akpata, selected Kadiri as his running mate for the election scheduled for September 21.
Despite the party forwarding Kadiri’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the electoral body published Alufohai Oluyinka Faith as the deputy governorship candidate instead.
Realizing the error, the LP wrote to INEC requesting the replacement of Faith’s name with that of Kadiri. When INEC failed to comply, the party took the matter to court.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2024, with INEC as the sole defendant, Justice Nwite faulted the Commission for refusing the requested substitution.
He emphasized that Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2022 allows a political party to write to INEC within 90 days of a scheduled election to withdraw a candidate whose name was already published.
The judge concluded that the LP had acted within the provisions of sections 29, 31, 32, and 33 of the Electoral Act 2022.
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