Dare Babalola
The Labour Party (LP) has urged the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, to recognise the party’s current leadership and include it in the upcoming council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The appeal was made by the LP National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, in a statement he signed personally on Friday.
Abure emphasised the need for the commission to ensure that the Labour Party is included in the electoral process, stating that the party’s current leadership is duly recognised by a Court and should be acknowledged by the INEC.
He wrote, “I want to use this opportunity to remind you of a pending order of the Court binding on INEC to recognize the present leadership of the Labour Party as led by my humble self, Barrister Julius Abure but which for reasons known to the immediate past INEC leadership was disregarded but for which we are grateful that the Acting Chairman has remediated substantially.
“We are however appealing to you to fully comply with several orders and judgements of the courts by directing the inclusion of the Labour Party in the up coming FCT council election by uploading the names of the party candidates. As a worker in the temple of justice and one known to have always respected the rule of law, we urge you to revisit this abnormally and restore recognition to the current leadership of the Labour Party as led by my humble self.
“This is because, the judiciary, which you are a prominent member has spoken loudly and clearly on both the position of the law on the political party leadership and the party supremacy.”
Abure also used the opportunity to congratulate Amupitan on his “well deserved appointment as the Chairman of INEC”, noting that his “appointment and elevation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is one that most Nigerians looked forward to, having followed your trajectory as a profound scholar, a legal luminary, a cerebral teacher and impactor of knowledge, an administrator of repute and a deeply religious person”.
He noted that Amupitan held the entire Senate spellbound with his intellectual prowess on how to navigate the “bedeviling” and “intractable” challenges of election management in Nigeria, albeit with ease.
He added, “I must say that you came prepared to face the challenges and to help secure our fragile democracy. Nigeria craves for an umpire who is apolitical and whose past has testimonies of love for the nation. Nigerians need a strong willed umpire who will place the nation first and who will not succumb to cheap blackmail and little tricks by the politicians who will stop at nothing in pursuit of both their ordinate and inordinate cravings. I want to say that you earned your current status and that President Tinubu’s choice and fate in you is not in anyway misplaced.”
