The Labour Party has dismissed speculation that it might join calls to boycott the 2027 general elections, insisting instead that its priority is addressing structural weaknesses that affected its performance during the 2023 polls.
Interim National Chairman Nenadi Usman spoke to journalists at the unveiling of the party’s e-registration portal in Abuja, clarifying the party’s position amid growing political tensions.
The remarks come as the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) threatened to mobilize parties to boycott the elections if certain provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) are not reviewed.
Responding to questions about a potential alignment with the proposed boycott, Usman rejected a “bandwagon” approach.
“Every political party has its peculiarities. What bothers another political party may not be what is bothering the Labour Party at the moment,” she said.
Usman stressed that issues such as the transmission of election results via the INEC Results Viewing Portal (iREV) were not the party’s primary concern.
Rather, she identified the lack of polling agents during the 2023 elections as the most significant challenge.
Reflecting on the 2023 presidential election, she explained that the absence of party agents at all polling units hampered the Labour Party’s ability to present documentary evidence in court.
“If you remember, in 2023, when we claimed that we won the election, when it was time for us to print out our evidence in court, we could not.
”The reason was that we didn’t have agents in all the polling units,” Usman said.
She further noted that the party’s limited presence at polling stations meant it could not collect or sign Form EC8A, crucial for validating election results, which restricted its ability to substantiate claims during legal proceedings.
The Labour Party said it is now concentrating on strengthening its organisational structures, expanding polling unit coverage, and leveraging technology to improve election readiness ahead of 2027.
