By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, ABUJA
The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, upheld the exclusion of candidates of the Labour Party (LP) from the forthcoming Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, declined to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept and publish the list of candidates the LP nominated to participate in the election billed for February 21.
It dismissed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025, which the LP and its candidates in the FCT lodged against INEC.
The plaintiff told the court that INEC had, in September 2025, published its final list of candidates, with the LP’s duly nominated candidates unlawfully excluded.
The LP further told the court that on September 8, 2025, it wrote a letter to the Chairman of INEC to complain about the exclusion of not just the names of its nominated candidates but also the omission of its logo from the manifest of political parties that will partake in the FCT election.
It decried that another letter to INEC on October 2, 2025, over the same issue, was ignored by the Commission.
LP pleaded that unless the court intervened, it would be unjustly excluded from fielding candidates in the impending FCT Council poll.
Meanwhile, in his judgement on Wednesday, Justice Lifu stressed that the case of the plaintiff, under the 1999 Constitution, fell under pre-election litigation.
The court noted that none of the parties disputed the fact that whereas the suit was filed on October 7, 2025, the cause of action, which was the exclusion of LP candidates by INEC, occurred on October 22, 2025.
It held that section 285 of paragraph 14(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, clearly stipulated that such a pre-election matter must be filed within 14 days after the cause of action arose.
According to the court, it no longer had the jurisdiction to intervene in the matter since the case of the plaintiff had become statute barred, considering that it was not filed within the statutory period.
Moreover, Justice Lifu said his attention was drawn to a similar case pending before a High Court in Nasarawa State, which also involved the same parties.
He held that the existence of both suits created the impression that the plaintiff engaged in forum shopping.
Consequently, he dismissed the suit for being statute barred and also declined to grant any of the prayers the plaintiff sought against INEC.
It will be recalled that the protracted leadership tussle in the LP was at the root of INEC’s decision not to recognise the list of candidates the warring factions submitted for the FCT poll.
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