The leadership crisis in the Labour Party (LP) has taken its toll on candidates who wanted to contest the August 16 bye-elections on the party’s platform, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to recognise any of the candidates.

As of the time of filing this report, no reason was given for the exclusion. The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, could not respond to calls on his mobile.

The Senior Special Assistant (Media) to Esther Nenadi Usman-led Labour Party, Ken Asogwa, told Sunday Telegraph that they did not field a candidate for the election because INEC denied them access to its portal.

Abure’s faction, which was sacked by the Supreme Court last April, described the exclusion as unlawful and an abuse of power.

The faction, in a statement, argued that INEC has no powers to either stop the Labour Party from sponsoring candidates or “Cherry-pick elections where it deems fit for our party to field candidates.

“INEC cannot stop political parties from fielding candidates in an election, provided the political parties abide by the requirements of the Electoral Acts.”

It threatened to seek redress in court if the commission fails to recognise Labour Party candidates for the August Bye-elections.