INEC unjustly targeting us with selective obedience to court orders — Labour Party

By Precious Mark

The leadership of the Labour Party has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of executing a calculated and unjust agenda against it through the selective obedience of court judgments and legal proceedings.

Mr. Obiora Ifoh, the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, made the accusation in an official statement released on Wednesday.

While the opposition party commended the electoral umpire for finally allowing the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) to upload its candidates’ data into the regulatory portal, it expressed deep worry over the commission’s double standards in interpreting similar judicial situations.

The party’s spokesperson expressed bewilderment over why INEC chose to ignore a notice of appeal and a motion for stay of execution lawfully filed by the Comrade Julius Abure-led executive against a Federal High Court ruling that favored the Senator Nenadi Usman-led interim executive.

“The position of the law is that once there is a motion for stay and a notice of appeal, all parties are expected to wait until the motion for stay is determined before any other actions are taken. But the case of Labour Party, INEC refused to observe that judicial principle and was in a hurry to obey that order,” the statement read.

The Party noted that while it was commendable that INEC observed that established legal principle for the NDC, it remains highly unfortunate that the commission chose to turn a blind eye to the exact same situation involving the Labour Party.

“Why is INEC not following the rule of law, why is the commission embarking on selective obedience to Court judgement? It chooses orders to obey and the ones not to obey. The rule of law indicates that all judicial proceedings must be respected and that all court orders must be given equal treatment,” the party stated.

Providing a chronological context to the crisis, the party explained that when the Federal High Court judgment that installed the Nenadi Usman faction was delivered on January 21, 2026, the party immediately filed its notice of appeal and motion for stay of execution.

Despite those pending legal frameworks, INEC rushed on January 29, 2026, to remove the Abure-led executive’s access from the portal, an act the party described as completely illegal.

They further alleged that the commission deliberately orchestrated the internal crisis rocketing the party by falsely claiming that the tenure of the current executive had expired.

The opposition party maintained that INEC was given official statutory notice before the party’s national convention, received the post-convention report as required by law, and even issued a Certified True Copy (CTC) to the party, only to turn around in June to claim the tenure had lapsed.

They warned that the present leadership of INEC poses a severe threat to the survival of democracy in Nigeria if it is allowed to arbitrarily decide which judicial orders to respect and which ones to discard.

“We are raising this question because when it happened to Labour Party people were quiet, thinking that it will not get to them but an injury to one should be an injury to all. It must be noted that what they allowed to stay today will definitely hunt others tomorrow,” the statement concluded.