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 publication of a list of candidates purported to be from the party for the local government elections on September 28, 2024.
The suit, numbered FHC/AWK/223/2024, also names the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the director-general of the State Security Services (SSS), and 14 others as defendants.
Advertorial
At a press briefing held in Awka, LP’s Publicity Secretary in Anambra, Chief Theo Egbe, revealed that the party had officially withdrawn from the election.
He denounced the names listed as LP candidates in eight of the state’s 21 local government areas—Idemili-North, Orumba-North, Nnewi-North, Aguata, Awka-North, Oyi, and Anambra East—as “fake.”
According to Egbe, these candidates were primarily members of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and included individuals from local government transition committees.
Advertorial
Egbe further accused the state legislature of manipulating the amendments to ANSIEC’s governing law and election guidelines, which he claimed were designed to favor the ruling party and disadvantage opposition parties.
He assured that the LP had no internal divisions and that the party’s national leadership, led by Nenadi Usman, had also endorsed the withdrawal from the local government elections.
In a related development, both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have also withdrawn from the elections, citing concerns that amendments to the ANSIEC Act conflicted with national laws governing the conduct of elections by INEC.
Additionally, the national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Edozie Njoku, condemned the list of APGA candidates as illegal, asserting that it was not endorsed by his party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
