Ladi Patrick-Okwoli
…Orders Usman to resume as party leader
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday removed Julius Abure as national chairman of the Labour Party (LP) and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Nenadi Usman, former minister of Finance as the party’s lawful leader.
Delivering judgment, Peter Lifu relied on the April 4, 2025, decision of the Supreme Court to uphold Usman’s leadership and affirm the validity of the Labour Party’s caretaker arrangement.
The court directed INEC to immediately recognise the Nenadi Usman–led National Caretaker Committee as the only legitimate authority to act for the party pending the conduct of a national convention.
The ruling followed a suit filed by Usman, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, in which Abure and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) were listed as defendants.
Justice Lifu held that the evidence before the court showed that Abure’s tenure as National Chairman had expired and that the party could not be left without leadership.
He rejected Abure’s argument that the matter was an internal party dispute and therefore non-justiciable, noting that the caretaker committee was constituted in line with the Supreme Court’s verdict.
The judge said all the reliefs sought by Usman were resolved in her favour, stressing that to decide otherwise would amount to judicial insubordination to the apex court.
He accordingly affirmed Abure’s removal and ordered INEC to recognise the Usman-led caretaker committee as the lawful leadership of the Labour Party.
The court recalled that, following a prolonged leadership crisis, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had resolved to remove Abure and set up a 29-member caretaker committee headed by Usman.
Read also: Abure’s Sack: Labour Party vows to appeal judgement
The decision was reached at an expanded stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, hosted by Governor Alex Otti, and chaired by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Abure had challenged his removal in court, insisting that he was duly elected National Chairman after serving as Acting Chairman following the death of the party’s former leader.
While the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal initially ruled in his favour, those decisions were later overturned by the Supreme Court, paving the way for the latest judgment.
Party to appeal judgment
Meanwhile, Obiora Ifoh, Labour Party’s national publicity secretary, said the court misinterpreted the April 4, 2025 verdict of the Supreme Court. He described Usman as a ‘non registered member of the Labour Party.’
He held that the judgement was in clear contradiction of the Supreme Court judgement, which clearly stated that no court has the power to appoint leadership for any political party and that leadership issue is an internal affairs of the political party
“Although we are yet to see the Certified True Copy CTC of the judgment in order to fully make comment about it, our position will become stronger when we see the CTC of the judgement. But generally, from the brief we have gotten so far, it is clear that the party will appeal the judgement.
“Before today’s judgment, we have been suspecting that it may go this way because of the body language around the court. When the matter was first filed, it was assigned to Justice Omotosho and suddenly, there was a somersault, as another matter was filed which was material and the one sent to Omotosho was withdrawn and now sent to Justice Peter Lifu. That was a red flag for us.
“Secondly, the court refused us the opportunity to respond to issues raised in the counter affidavit filed by other parties and quickly adjourned for judgement. That was the second red flag.
“Our adversaries were all over the places, jubilating weeks before, over a judgement that has not been delivered, telling everyone that they have already won. The jubilation by our adversaries was all over the social media, that come today the judiciary will hand over the party to Dr. Alex Otti.”
He also noted that the Court of Appeal had pronounced Julius Abure’s National Working Committee as the authentic leadership of the party.
That pronouncement, he said, was what Nenadi Usman took to the Supreme Court to say that the courts were wrong to have pronounced somebody as the chairman of the party.
“To us, that was a clear contradiction against what the Supreme Court said. Secondly, the Supreme Court said that all matters that have to do with the leadership of the political party are internal affairs of the party and that has been the position of the Supreme Court.
The party however urged its members to remain calm as the leadership will do everything within the laws to ensure that justice is served for the interest of the party. It warned that the party is not for sale and no amount of financial power will make it abdicate its leadership position in the party.
Source: Businessday.ng | Read the Full Story…
