The Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Peter Ugwu, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to urgently upload the party’s candidates for the FCT Area Council elections scheduled for February 26, 2026.
Ugwu made the appeal during a peaceful protest by LP members to the INEC headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja. He expressed concern over INEC’s delay in uploading the party’s candidates, describing it as a disruption to LP’s preparations for the upcoming polls.
“We in the FCT conducted primaries and elected our candidates. Sadly, while candidates of other political parties have been uploaded on the INEC portal, ours have not,” Ugwu said.
“We came to appeal to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, to upload our candidates for the February 2026 FCT Area Council elections. We plead with INEC to act swiftly so we can participate fully.”
Also speaking, Mrs. Success Onyeze, the FCT Women Leader and aspirant for the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) chairmanship, and Hon. Kingsley Okeke, a party candidate, said LP’s primary election was free, fair, and transparent, and the omission of their names from INEC’s portal came as a surprise.
“We have managed our crowd because we are peaceful people. Labour Party is known for peace. We are only here to appeal to Prof. Yakubu to do the right thing,” Onyeze said.
“Barr. Julius Abure remains the national chairman of our party. We are appealing to INEC to upload our names and allow us to represent our people.”
The aspirants claimed that Labour Party is a dominant force in the FCT and alleged that other parties might be uneasy about LP’s rising popularity.
“It is obvious that the Labour Party owns FCT. The FCT belongs to Labour Party. INEC must do the needful and uphold the constitution,” they added.
In response, INEC National Commissioner Abdulahi Zuru, who received the protesters on behalf of the Chairman, promised to relay their concerns to the leadership of the commission.
