Court nullifies Alex Otti’s candidature, all LP contestants in Abia, Kano

A Federal High Court sitting in Kano State and presided over by Justice M N Yunusa has nullified the candidature of the Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti.

Justice Yunusa on Friday also nullified the candidatures of all those who contested the 2023 general elections under the Labour Party (LP) in Abia and Kano States.

The court ruled that the emergence of the candidates was not in compliance with the provisions of the 2022 electoral act.

A copy of the judgement delivered by the court was made public on Friday morning.

The Court in Suit No FHC/KN/CS/107/2023 was filed by Mr Ibrahim Haruna Ibrahim against the LP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It ruled that the failure of the Labour Party to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries renders the process null and void.

“The party that has not complied with the provisions of the electoral act cannot be said to have candidates in an election and cannot be declared winner of an election.

“This being so, the votes credited to the 1st defendant is a wasted vote,” the Judge ruled.

Recall that the Abia Governor-elect, Otti, on April 14 constituted a 75-member inauguration committee to organise his inauguration on May 29.

The LP candidate was declared the winner of the March 18 Abia gubernatorial election of by the INEC after winning 10 of the 17 local government areas (LGAs) in the state and polled 175,467 votes.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Okey Ahiwe, polled a total of 88,529 votes while Enyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) came in third with 28,972 votes.

INEC’s state returning officer, Professor Nnenna Oti, declared Otti as the governor-elect, having polled the highest number of votes and having fulfilled the requirements to be named the governor-elect.