Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has upheld the exclusion of Labour Party (LP) candidates from the Area Council elections scheduled to take place on February 21 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The judge who made the pronouncement on Wednesday in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025, also declined to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to accept or publish the party’s list of candidates for the polls.
Justice Lifu ruled that the suit filed by the Labour Party and its candidates, was statute-barred, as it was not filed within the mandatory 14 days after the cause of action arose.
The party and its candidates for the FCT council polls had filed the suit challenging INEC’s decision to exclude them from the elections. The party argued that its candidates were duly nominated but were unlawfully excluded when INEC published the final list of contestants in September 2025.
Additionally, the party complained that its logo was omitted from the list of political parties authorized to participate in the elections.
The plaintiffs stated that they wrote to the INEC Chairman on September 8, 2025, and followed up with a reminder on October 2, 2025, protesting the exclusion, but received no response.
They argued before the court that without judicial intervention, they would be unfairly barred from fielding candidates in the upcoming polls.
However, Justice Lifu dismissed the suit, upholding INEC’s position on the exclusion of the party’s candidates based on the expiration of the legal timeframe for filing such a challenge.
