FCT ballot: PDP faces disqualification as INEC excludes LP

Seventy-four candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party within the forthcoming Federal Capital Territory Space Council elections are dealing with doable disqualification following unresolved management crises inside the get together.

This comes because the Labour Party has been utterly shut out of the polls, having introduced no candidates on the ultimate checklist launched by the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) on September 22, 2025.

With the Space Council elections scheduled for February 21, 2026, INEC paperwork present that out of the 16 registered political events, solely the LP at present has no candidate cleared for the train.

The FCT has 68 elective positions, comprising six chairmanship seats and 62 councillorship positions throughout Abuja Municipal Space Council, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abaji, and Kwali.

Though the PDP submitted a full slate of 74 candidates — 12 for chairmanship and vice-chairmanship positions and 62 for councillorship seats — the legitimacy of these nominations is now beneath authorized menace.

The LP’s exclusion stems from a protracted management tussle between the Julius Abure-led faction and the Nenadi Usman-led Nationwide Caretaker Committee, backed by the get together’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti.

INEC has refused to recognise the nationwide conference held in Nnewi, which re-elected Abure, insisting that his tenure had expired.

Though a court docket order had directed INEC to problem entry codes to allow the get together to add its candidates, the fee has maintained that it solely offers with leaders recognised by regulation, successfully leaving the LP with out illustration within the FCT elections.

Inside the PDP, a management battle has erupted between a faction led by former Minister of Particular Duties, Tanimu Turaki — elected because the get together’s nationwide chairman on the controversial nationwide conference held in Ibadan on November 15 and 16 — and one other faction led by Abdulrahman Mohammed, backed by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

Each factions have exchanged suspensions and filed a number of fits over management of the get together’s construction.

Authorized specialists warn that if the courts finally rule that the management which performed the PDP primaries was unlawful, all nominations made beneath it could possibly be nullified.

An analogous improvement occurred throughout the 2019 basic elections, when the Supreme Court docket voided the votes of the APC in Zamfara State and the PDP in Rivers State over irregularities of their nomination processes.

Within the FCT, such a ruling would wipe out all 74 PDP candidates, together with chairmanship aspirants in AMAC, Abaji, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Bwari, and Kwali, in addition to the 62 councillorship contenders throughout the wards.

Commenting on the matter, the Chairman of the Transition Monitoring Group, Auwal Rafsanjani, warned that the exclusion of opposition events may result in voter apathy and a lopsided contest.

“The danger is that if events fail to resolve these inner issues, the ruling get together will grow to be the one viable choice. That weakens selection and discourages voters.

“So, it will be important that politicians play by the principles and do every little thing to resolve their inner crises; in any other case, it could give a chance for the ruling get together and those that have been recruited to undermine and exclude opposition,” he mentioned.