A Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta yesterday ordered the Labour Party (LP) to disclose the names of 26 candidates for the Ogun State House of Assembly and 12 candidates for the National Assembly for the 2023 general election.
The sitting judge, Justice Adetayo Aluko, ruled that INEC could not obstruct LP candidates since the Electoral Act of 2022 superseded its election-related rules.
He further ruled that parties were allowed to submit the names of candidates who won substitution primaries no later than 90 days before the election under Section 31 of the Electoral Act of 2022.
The judge ruled that INEC could not set a time restriction for the Electoral Act in accordance with its own instructions.
INEC had failed to list the candidates of LP for the National and State Assembly seats for what the electoral umpire described as the failure of the party to submit names of its candidates for the 26 House Assembly seats, three Senatorial seats and nine House of Representatives seats within the time allowed by the provisions of the commission’s guidelines.
