Posted by In the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, Labour Party, LP candidates are being swept away in a wave of opposition.
The change already poses a danger to their entry into national politics.
The Labour Party, influenced by Peter Obi’s movement, placed third in the Senate and the House of Representatives after the 2023 election.
By toppling some long-standing politicians, the party emerged as a viable third option.
But the decisions from the courts across the state have been extremely damaging for the legislators running on the LP platform. As a result of problems with nomination and other election-related issues, many MPs have been removed from office.
The Labour Party took its first major loss in Delta State, when a tribunal in Asaba, the state capital, removed Ngozi Okolie as a representative from the House of Representatives and proclaimed the former minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, the winner.
Ibe Okwara and Emeka Nnamani in Abia State, together with Reps members Amobi Ogah, Sunday Nnamchi, Chijioke Okereke, Seyi Sowunmi, and Sunday Umeha, have all been dismissed by tribunals in the past three months for membership in the Labour Party.
The court removed Thaddeus Attah from office and ordered re-voting in several precincts in the Etiosa Federal Constituency in Lagos State.
Although it may appear hopeless, the case of Ngozi Okolie and Ndudi Elumelu has already been decided by the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal reversed the Tribunal’s decision, declaring Okolie the election’s legitimate victor.
Legislators from the Labour Party may be affected by the Court of Appeal’s (Presidential Election Petition Tribunal) ruling on Kashim Shettima and Peter Obi, according to experts on electoral law.
Recall that the ruling APC argued that Obi was not officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate before the presidential tribunal, but that the tribunal decided that this was a pre-election issue.
A similar ruling was made with the double nomination case against Shattima prior to the election.
Legal expert Tejumola Banigbe that the presidential tribunal’s decision will set a precedent that might ultimately decide the fate of the Labour Party legislators.
First of all, party membership is not an election issue; it’s a party business.
“Anyone who is not a member of such party and who challenges the same is considered an encroaching invader under the law.