The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday upheld the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission to exclude candidates of the Labour Party from the forthcoming Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, the court refused to compel INEC to accept or publish the list of candidates submitted by the LP for the council polls scheduled for February 21.
Justice Lifu dismissed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025, filed by the Labour Party and its candidates against the electoral body, challenging their omission from the final list of contestants.
The LP had told the court that when INEC released its final list of candidates in September 2025, its duly nominated candidates were excluded without lawful justification.
The party further alleged that its logo was omitted from the list of political parties cleared to participate in the election, adding that letters written to the INEC chairman on September 8 and October 2, 2025, to protest the development were allegedly ignored.
The plaintiffs argued that unless the court intervened, the party would be unfairly denied the opportunity to field candidates in the FCT Area Council elections.
However, delivering the ruling, Justice Lifu held that the matter qualified as a pre-election dispute under the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
The court noted that while the suit was instituted on October 7, 2025, the cause of action the exclusion of the LP candidates occurred on October 22, 2025.
Justice Lifu ruled that Section 285 of the Constitution clearly requires pre-election matters to be filed within 14 days of the cause of action, adding that the failure to meet the timeline robbed the court of jurisdiction.
The judge further observed that a similar suit involving the same parties was already pending before a High Court in Nasarawa State, a development he said suggested forum shopping.
He consequently dismissed the suit for being statute-barred and declined all the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs.
INEC had earlier cited the lingering leadership crisis within the Labour Party as the reason for rejecting the candidates’ list submitted by the factionalised party for the FCT council elections.