A group of protesters made up of Civil Society Organizations alongside candidates of the Julius Abure-led Labour Party (LP), for the August 16, 2025 by-elections, scheduled to hold nationwide, have staged a peaceful protest to demand their inclusion in the forthcoming polls.
The protesters who came in several buses stormed the National Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as early as 11:00am amidst early morning rain on Wednesday, to press home their demand.
Meanwhile, INEC said nine political parties would be participating in the August 16 by-election for the Edo Central Senatorial and Ovia Federal Constituency seats in Edo State
The seats became vacant after the previous occupiers, Senator Monday Okpebholo and Hon. Dennis Idahosa emerged governor and deputy governor of the State in the September 2024 governorship election.
At the protest in Abuja, aggrieved party members and supporters arried 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 Barr. 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 forthcoming 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, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), of the party, 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, Abdullahi Zuru promised that the message of the protesters will be communicated to the leadership of the commission.
In Benin, Edo State capital, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Prof. Anugbum Onuoha, told journalists yesterday that the parties that will participate in the election are, Action Alliance (AA), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and All Progressives Congress (APC).
Others parties according to him are: Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Democratic Party (ADP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Prof Onuoha stated that 14 political parties had indicated interest to contest the poll, but only the affirmed nine parties invited INEC to monitor their primary election.
The INEC REC stated: “From our records, Labour Party and others didn’t invite us for their primaries.
“Some others invited us, but we got there, their doors were locked. We could not find anyone,” he stated.
Continuing, Prof. Onuoha said the commission is fully prepared to conduct a transparent and hitch free election, adding, “Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) has been configured, while non-sensitive materials had been deployed.”
Prof. Onuoha expressed concern over uncollected 101, 617 Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) in the areas scheduled for the election and urged residents to pickup their cards.
He noted, “there are 719,504 registered voters in the seven local governments were the bye-election will hold. 101,617 voters cards are yet to be collected.”
The REC, who dismissed the call by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for his redeployment, urged media collaboration to enable the commission deliver a free, fair and credible election.
“Even if you bring your brother to INEC, he can’t compromise elections because of the way the commission is structured,” he stated.
