Court Upholds Exclusion of Labour Party Candidates from FCT Area Council Elections

The Federal High Court in Abuja has upheld the exclusion of Labour Party (LP) candidates from the forthcoming Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Peter Lifu refused to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept and publish the list of LP candidates for the polls scheduled for February 21. The court dismissed the suit marked **FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025**, filed by the Labour Party and its candidates against INEC.

The LP had argued that INEC unlawfully excluded its duly nominated candidates when it published the final list of contestants in September 2025. The party also complained that its logo was omitted from the list of political parties cleared to participate in the election.

According to the plaintiffs, letters dated September 8 and October 2, 2025, were written to the INEC Chairman to protest the exclusion, but the commission allegedly failed to respond. The party urged the court to intervene, warning that it would otherwise be denied the opportunity to field candidates in the FCT council elections.

In his ruling, Justice Lifu held that the matter qualified as a pre-election dispute under the 1999 Constitution. He noted that while the suit was filed on October 7, 2025, the cause of action—the exclusion of LP candidates—arose on October 22, 2025.

The court ruled that Section 285(14)(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) requires pre-election suits to be filed within 14 days of the occurrence of the cause of action. On this basis, the court declined the reliefs sought by the Labour Party and dismissed the case.