Labour Party Takes ANSIEC, INEC, IGP, and 15 Others to Court Over ‘Fake Candidates’ in Anambra LG Polls

The Labour Party (LP) has filed a lawsuit against the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) at the Federal High Court in Awka, challenging the inclusion of alleged ‘fake candidates’ in the list published for the local government elections scheduled for Saturday, September 28.

The lawsuit, marked FHC/AWK/223/2024, also names several other defendants, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS), and 14 individuals listed as LP chairmanship and councillorship candidates in the polls.

Speaking at a press briefing at the party’s Awka secretariat on Friday, Chief Theo Egbe, the LP Publicity Secretary in Anambra State, announced that the party had withdrawn from the elections. He described the published list of candidates as fraudulent, stating that none of the individuals listed were legitimate representatives of the Labour Party.

Egbe revealed that ANSIEC had published candidates for LP in eight out of the 21 local government areas, including Idemili-North, Orumba-North, Nnewi-North, Aguata, Awka-North, Oyi, and Anambra East. However, he noted that the listed candidates were not approved by the party and were mostly members of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), currently serving on Local Government Transition Committees.

The LP spokesperson further explained that the party’s decision to withdraw from the election stemmed from alleged manipulations in the amended Act establishing ANSIEC, carried out by the State House of Assembly. He argued that the provisions in the amended law and ANSIEC’s election guidelines were skewed against opposition parties.

Despite concerns of possible internal divisions, Egbe confirmed that the Labour Party remains united. The party’s decision to boycott the elections has been endorsed by the Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee.

In a related development, both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have also pulled out of the elections, describing the ANSIEC amendments as illegal. They argue that several provisions in the ANSIEC law conflict with the Act of the National Assembly governing INEC.

Additionally, Chief Edozie Njoku, the National Chairman of APGA, has declared the list of candidates contesting the polls under APGA’s banner illegal, stating that they were not endorsed by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).