Governorship aspirant of Labour Party (LP), Mr John Nwosu has rejected the primary election conducted by the party in Awka on Thursday.

In the primary election, Nwosu lost to his opponent, Hon Jude Umennajiego, who is the member representing Onitsha South 2 state constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly.

An earlier primary conducted on April 5 by a faction of the party loyal to ousted national chairman of the party, Barr Julius Abure, produced Dr George Moghalu as candidate.

In a petition to the chairman of the Labour Party Primary Election Appeal Committee, Hon Afam Ogene, Nwosu described the election as a sham, insisting that if the process was right, he would have been fielded as a lone aspirant, and returned as the candidate of the party.

He claimed that Umennajiego who the party gave its ticket was only a placeholder for another aspirant who did not want to openly show his face in the contest.

His protest letter read: “That process, if due process was followed, ought to have returned me as the winner, being the sole aspirant qualified to stand for the primary election referent to the Supreme Court judgement of the 4th day of April, 2025.

“Having upon request submitted my credentials to the Election Committee, the decision to name and install a placeholder is injurious to my interest and therefore unacceptable to me as there is no clear and present danger or to Labour Party in naming me as the candidate of our great Labour Party and sending my name to INEC accordingly.

“I am therefore filling this appeal requesting the reversal of these decision and according to me natural justice equity and good conscience as the sole aspirant and winner of the Labour Party primary election held in Awka, Anambra State on the 10th of April 2025.”