The forum of State Chairmen of the Labour Party has issued a strongly worded communiqué and open letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Abdurrahim Imam Chindo Secretary of forum of elected State Chairmen/NEC Members who read the communique on behalf of the 36 State Chairmen of the Labour Party (LP), warn that any recognition of fresh parallel state congresses would be illegal, constitutionally untenable, and a direct contradiction of INEC’s own monitored processes.

The letter, dated 14th February 2026 and signed by the Forum’s Secretary Abdurrahim Imam Chindo on behalf of all 36 state chairmen, was addressed to the INEC Chairman and copied to the President of the Federal Republic, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, and a host of international institutions and foreign missions in Nigeria.

The state chairmen described themselves as products of duly conducted Ward, LGA and State Congresses held on 2nd, 4th, and 6th December 2025 respectively across the federation — exercises conducted with statutory notice to INEC as required under Section 82(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, and officially monitored by the Commission under Section 82(5).

“We are therefore not self-appointed actors. We are products of a completed statutory and democratic process duly conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, monitored by INEC and recognized by law,” the letter stated.

The forum said it was moved to act by credible intelligence suggesting that INEC was under pressure to monitor or recognise fresh so-called state congresses by a faction of the party it described as having no legal or constitutional foundation. The chairmen characterised the attempt as “institutional sabotage” rather than ordinary party politics.

They recalled that on 16th February 2026, INEC had decisively rejected a request by Senator Nenadi Usman to recognise the purported dissolution of duly elected party structures, citing the action as having been taken “without giving statutory notice to the Commission and without authority to act under your Party Constitution.” The forum argued that this INEC position remained unchallenged and that nothing had changed to justify a reversal.

“One cannot build legality on a foundation already declared defective,” the letter declared. “Any attempt to proceed on that basis would be a continuation of the same illegality previously identified and rejected by INEC.”

The forum grounded its argument in three constitutional and statutory pillars. First, Section 223(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution, which mandates that party leadership must emerge through periodic democratic elections. Second, Section 82 of the Electoral Act 2022, which regulates the conduct of congresses and requires statutory notice to INEC, transparency, and Commission monitoring.

Third, the principle that completed statutory processes once conducted with due notice and monitored by INEC cannot be nullified by internal party correspondence, administrative declaration, or factional arrangements, but only by a court of competent jurisdiction.

The chairmen warned that any INEC decision to monitor or recognise fresh parallel congresses while the existing ones remained valid and no court had nullified them would result in duplicated leadership structures, destabilisation of party organisation, undermining of INEC’s own oversight credibility, and a dangerous signal that lawful democratic processes could be discarded at will.

“Today it is Labour Party. Tomorrow it could be any Party,” the letter cautioned.

The forum also noted that the national leadership dispute within the Labour Party is currently before the Court of Appeal, with INEC itself a party to that appeal. It urged the Commission to exercise restraint and preserve existing structures pending judicial determination, warning that proceeding to monitor fresh congresses at this stage risked altering the subject matter of ongoing litigation.

Closing with a direct appeal to INEC’s constitutional conscience, the letter called on the Commission to decline monitoring any fresh congresses, uphold its own records, resist political pressure, and be guided by the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and its obligations to the Nigerian people.

“Democracy is not sustained by convenience. It is sustained by consistency, legality, and institutional courage,” the forum stated.

The chairmen expressed confidence that INEC under its current leadership headed by a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria would not allow such a dangerous precedent to be set, while affirming their own commitment to the rule of law and internal party democracy and their resolve to take all lawful steps to defend the validity of the December 2025 congress outcomes.