Pro-Julius Abure protesters comprising unnamed Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) as well as persons parading as Labour Party candidates for the August 16, 2025 bye-elections, Wednesday, gathered at the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to demand inclusion in the forthcoming polls.
The protesters who came in several buses stormed the INEC as early as 11am amidst early morning rain to press home their demand.
Dozens of the protesters carrying placards with inscriptions such as: “INEC, who is using you against LP,” “Mahmood stop destroying democracy in Nigeria”, “Tell INEC to obey court orders”, among others.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Labour Party deputy National Youth Leader, Dr. Barry Avotu-Johnson, said, “We are here to demand that the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu should respect the Court order recognising Barrister Julius Abure as National Chairman of our great party.
“We are also demanding that he uploads the names of our validly nominated candidates for the forth coming bye-elections.
“This is not asking for too much. Justice and the respect for the rule of law which is the hallmark of democracy all over the world, Nigeria shouldn’t be an exception.”
Speaking in a similar vein, a representative of the party in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Peter Ugwu, said, “We are here to demand for our right.
“We in the FCT conducted primaries and elected candidates for this election. Sadly, while the names of candidates of other political parties have been uploaded on the INEC portal, ours have not. INEC should correct this anomaly by doing the needful.”
On his part, spokesperson for the CSOs, Mr. Peter Piper, said, “This is about democracy and the rule of law. An injury to one is an injury to all.”
In his response, INEC’s National Commissioner who represented the Chairman, Abdulahi Zuru, promised that the message of the protesters will be communicated to the leadership of the commission.
However, a source at INEC picked hole in the protest, wondering why the Abure faction would protest when it had already filed a matter in court, challenging exclusion of its candidates by INEC.
While the INEC source declined further comment, saying that the matter was subjudice, the National Publicity Secretary of the faction, Obiora Ifoh, said the party would proceed to court to challenge the exclusion of its candidates from the bye- election.