By Alex Odeh, Pan Afric Reporters
The Labour Party (LP) in Ebonyi State has accused the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) of deliberately frustrating its participation in the forthcoming local government elections.
The State Chairman of the Labour Party, Chief Henry Ude, said the party visited the EBSIEC office to obtain nomination forms but was denied access to both the Chairman and Secretary of the commission. “We came here to collect our nomination forms because we intend to participate in the local government elections. To our surprise, we were told that the Chairman and Secretary were not around, even though their vehicles were present. We were refused the forms, and this is a clear attempt to disenfranchise the Labour Party,” Ude alleged.
He described the situation as unacceptable and warned that the party would explore all legal options to ensure its inclusion in the election.
Also speaking, Comrade Igiri Innocent, the Secretary of the party, claimed that Labour Party officials had visited the commission over ten times without success. “We have all the required documents. Everything is complete. Yet there is an underground plan to shut us out. This is our tenth visit to this office, and we are still being denied the forms,” he said.
Igiri alleged that the party was being deliberately frustrated because of its growing popularity across the state, insisting that Labour Party would not back down from participating in the election.
Reacting to the allegations, the Chairman of EBSIEC, Enyi Patrick, denied claims of disenfranchisement, insisting that the commission is acting strictly in line with the Constitution and Electoral Act.
According to him, the delay in issuing forms to the Labour Party was due to discrepancies between the party officials who visited the commission and the leadership list submitted to EBSIEC by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).“We respect the Labour Party as a fully registered political party.
However, our guidelines require that only the party chairman or secretary recognised by INEC can collect the declaratory forms. The individuals who came did not tally with the names on the INEC list,” Enyi explained.
He stressed that EBSIEC has no authority to determine party leadership and warned that issuing forms to unrecognised individuals could lead to litigation.“Once INEC clarifies the leadership issue and gives us the certified names, we are ready to issue the forms. We want all parties to participate,” he said.
Enyi added that the process is time-bound, noting that all primaries-related activities are expected to be concluded by February 3, after which parties that fail to comply may be excluded from the ballot.
