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Awka/Abuja — Anambra Central Senatorial District

The Labour Party in Anambra Central Senatorial District has welcomed a Court of Appeal judgment that struck down four provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, describing it as a boost for internal party democracy ahead of the 2027 general election.

In a press statement issued by the office of Ven. Tochukwu Sagacious Ikezue, the party’s senatorial candidate for Anambra Central, the campaign said it had studied the unanimous decision delivered on Thursday by a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, led by Justice Balkisu Bello Aliyu, with the lead judgment written by Justice Eberechi Nyesom-Wike.

The judgment, delivered in an appeal filed by the Zenith Party against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), voided Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026. The affected sections had required political parties to submit membership registers to INEC ahead of primaries, barred parties from using any register other than the one submitted to the commission, threatened to disqualify defaulting parties from fielding candidates, and restricted parties to direct primaries or consensus as their only permitted methods of picking candidates.

The appellate court held that the provisions conflicted with Sections 221 and 222 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantee political parties the right to determine who they nominate for elective office.

Party Reaction

Reacting to the judgment, the Ikezue campaign called it “a victory for constitutional democracy,” arguing that political parties, as associations recognised under the Constitution, must retain reasonable discretion over how they run their internal affairs, including candidate selection.

With Section 84(2) now void, the statement said, the Labour Party in Anambra Central is free to choose among Direct, Indirect, or Consensus modes of primary election, and pledged that the party would “consult widely with stakeholders, delegates, and party leaders” in deciding which process to adopt.

The campaign, however, cautioned that the ruling does not remove the underlying obligation on parties to keep membership registers and submit them to INEC — only the specific sanctions and voting restrictions tied to those registers were struck down. It called on Labour Party leadership at the national and state levels to ensure the party’s registers are credible and updated across the district’s seven local government areas: Idemili North, Idemili South, Awka North, Awka South, Njikoka, Dunukofia and Anaocha.

Call for Unity and Guidelines

Under the banner of its “Rescue Mission 2027” campaign, the Ikezue office said the new flexibility around primaries should not be used to exclude party members, and pledged an open and transparent nomination process.

The statement also called on INEC to issue clear guidelines to implement the judgment and avoid confusion, and urged all Labour Party aspirants in Anambra Central to keep campaigns peaceful and focused on manifestos rather than internal conflict.

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The ruling is one of two notable Court of Appeal decisions on INEC’s regulatory powers issued around the same period; a separate panel, in a different case, upheld INEC’s authority over its election guidelines, resulting in what some commentators have described as conflicting appellate positions on the commission’s powers ahead of 2027. INEC has said the judgments are not an obstacle to delivering credible elections in 2027 and that its legal team is reviewing the rulings.