Ahead of the February 21, 2026, Federal Capital Territory Area Council election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated it denied the Labour Party access to the candidate registration code due to ongoing leadership disputes and pending court cases. In a statement issued on Wednesday by Mrs Victoria Ewa-Messi, Director of Voter Education and
Ahead of the February 21, 2026, Federal Capital Territory Area Council election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated it denied the Labour Party access to the candidate registration code due to ongoing leadership disputes and pending court cases.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Mrs Victoria Ewa-Messi, Director of Voter Education and Publicity, the commission said that the Supreme Court’s ruling on April 4th, 2025, had invalidated the authority and leadership of the Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee. As a result, the primaries held on August 16th under that leadership have been nullified.
This development follows a protest held by members and supporters of the Labour Party at the INEC headquarters in Abuja on Monday. The group accused the Commission of excluding the party’s candidates from the election and requested the access codes necessary to upload their names.
Responding to the allegation of excluding Labour Party candidates, INEC acknowledges multiple lawsuits already instituted by LP against it regarding access to upload names of candidates, all of which are still pending in court.
The commission listed the four lawsuits as the one at the Nasarawa State High Court, Akwanga Division, marked NSD/LF.84/2024; another at the Federal High Court Abuja, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025; the FCT High Court, Jabi Division, marked CV/4792/2025; and yet another at the FCT High Court, Life Camp Division, marked CV/4930/2025.
INEC claims that on December 16, the court in Life Camp issued an interim order requiring the commission to upload the names of the LP candidates for the FCT area council election. However, the commission filed its defence, and the interim order, which expired on December 23, was not renewed.
As a result, INEC claimed that there is no subsisting court order for INEC to act upon, as the matter is sub judice.
The statement fully reads “On Monday, 5th January, 2026, some supporters of the Labour Party protested at the INEC Headquarters, Abuja, complaining about the exclusion of their candidates for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Election scheduled for Saturday, 21st February, 2026, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and demanded the issuance of access code to upload its candidates for the election.
“In response, the Commission wishes to state that the Labour Party has been enmeshed in prolonged internal leadership disputes since 2024, which culminated in the judgment of the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025 (Usman v. Labour Party) delivered on 4th April 2025. In that decision, the Apex Court unequivocally held that the tenure of the Barrister Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee had expired.
“Despite this clear pronouncement, the Abure-led faction purportedly conducted primaries for the August 16, 2025, bye-election nationwide and the FCT Area Council Election. It is also pertinent to recall that the Abure-led faction instituted Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1523/2025– Labour Party v. INEC at the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the decision of INEC excluding it from participating in the bye-election. Judgment was delivered on 15th August 2025, dismissing the suit and enforcing the Supreme Court’s position that Barr. Julius Abure was no longer recognised as the National Chairman of the Labour Party, and thus upheld the decision of INEC to exclude the Labour Party from the bye-election.
“Thereafter, the Labour Party filed multiple suits against INEC in different courts, all seeking Orders compelling INEC to grant an access code for the upload of its candidates for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Election scheduled for Saturday, 21st February 2026. These suits include Suit No. NSD/LF.84/2024 before the Nasarawa State High Court, Akwanga Division. When the matter at the Nasarawa State High Court got stalled, the Labour Party approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025 is seeking an Order compelling INEC to issue access codes to its candidates, and the matter is still pending before the court.
“The Labour Party again approached the FCT High Court, Jabi Division, in another fresh Suit No. CV/4792/2025 and filed a motion seeking an order compelling INEC to issue access codes to its candidates for the FCT Area Council election. The matter was adjourned, after INEC had filed its Reply, to 15th January 2026 for the hearing of the motion. One would have expected the Party to wait for the hearing of this motion, but the Labour Party filed another suit in Suit No. CV/4930/2025 before the FCT High Court, Life Camp Division, seeking the same relief to compel INEC to grant Access Codes to upload its candidates for the FCT Area Council election. B
“By an Order Exparte in this latest Suit No. CV/4930/2025, the FCT High Court sitting in Life Camp, Abuja granted an interim Order on 16th December, 2025, directing the Commission to upload the names and particulars of the Labour Party candidates for the FCT Area Council Election. The Court expressly stated that the Order would lapse after seven days unless extended. Upon being served with the originating processes, INEC promptly filed its defence, challenging the competence of the suit and the jurisdiction of the Court. The interim Order consequently lapsed on 23rd December, 2025 and was not extended. Accordingly, there is presently no subsisting Court Order for INEC to act upon. Given that the matter is sub judice, INEC will continue to respect the sanctity of the judicial process and await the final determination of the pending cases.”
