More than one month after he was sacked by the Supreme Court, Julius Abure is still laying claim to the national chairmanship of the Labour Party. Whose interest is he actually serving? Asks ONYEKACHI EZE.
Since the April 4, 2025 Supreme Court judgement on the leadership crisis in the Labour Party, Julius Abure whose leadership was terminated by the court, had held what he called the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Labour Party twice. The sacked National Working Committee (NWC) had also issued countless press statements and addressed several press conferences, to defend the sack.
Kehinde Edun, who is the national legal adviser of the sacked NWC said in a television interview that the Supreme Court did not overturn the earlier judgement that affirmed Abure’s position as national chairman of the LP, but merely held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to make certain pronouncements on the party’s leadership.
“There are two court of appeal judgements. There is the judgement of 13th November 2024, and then, there is the judgement of January 17, 2025. In the judgment of November 13, 2024, the court affirmed Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party. That judgement has not been appealed against.
“It is a judgement in a pre-election matter and the time to appeal against it has elapsed. And that judgement remains binding and subsisting,” Edun claimed.
But the April 4 judgement was a declaratory one. Justice John Inyang Okoro who read the judgement on behalf of three other justices of the apex court who heard the appeal, was emphatic that the three issues submitted for determination were jointly resolved in favour of the appellants.
The appellants in the case were Esther Nenadi Usman and Darlington Nwokocha, Chairman and Secretary of the Labour Party National Caretaker Committee (NCC) respectively, set up in Umuahia, Abia State in 2024 at a joint meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and party stakeholders.
The caretaker committee had requested the Supreme Court to determine whether the Court of Appeal was right to have declared Abure the National Chairman of the Labour Party. The NCC also wants the court to determine “Whether the decision/ratio decidendi in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024, Labour Party v Olusola Ebiseni & ors determined the subject of leadership (National Chairman) of the Labour Party as erroneously affirmed by the court below in its judgement in then instant appeal.
It equally requested the Apex Court to determine “Whether the determination of the court below that ‘the thrust of the instant suit’, that is to say the substantive issue in this suit is the subject of the national leadership of the party to respondent, the issues arising from reliefs 1 to 4 in the originating summons which are ancillary claims ought to be countenanced and or relied upon in determining the jurisdiction of the court to entertain this suit.”
Abure’s lawyer Peters Oyewole, in a counter appeal, told the court to also determine, “Whether, having regard to the circumstances of this appeal, the appellants have made a case for this appeal to be determined in their favour.”
Justice Okooro said both the High Court and the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by the Abure-led Labour Party. He went ahead to declare that “Consequent upon the foregoing, the decisions of both trial court and the court below recognising Barrister Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the 1st respondent are hereby set aside and suit No.FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024 is hereby struck out for want of jurisdiction.
“In the same vein, the 1st respondent’s cross-appeal in Appeal No.SC/CV/56A/2025 being an offshoot of the same judgement of the court below, is hereby dismissed.”
The trial judge advised political parties and their members to endeavour to always allow their constitutions, rules, regulations and guidelines to guide them in choosing their officers as well as candidates.
“That way, incessant internal rifts which always find their way to court would be reduced. If the constitution of a political party has prescribed duration for tenure of office of an officer, such officer should be humble enough to leave at the expiration of the tenure. In the final analysis, I find this appeal to be meritorious and is hereby allowed,” he advised.
The certified true copy (CTC) of the judgement has been submitted to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Suit No.FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, which was struck out by the Supreme Court, is what Kehind Edu claimed that is still binding and still validates Abure’s election.
Two weeks ago, news emerged in some online platforms that INEC has recognised Abure as Labour Party National Chairman based on the Supreme Court judgement. But Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary of the INEC Chairman, said such reports are false and misleading. Oyekanmi said the commission has not made any decision on the leadership crisis of the party. He added that the names of “the national officers of the LP had previously been uploaded to our website following a court order, not related in any way to the latest judgement of the Supreme Court. ”
INEC said it “is carefully studying the judgement of the Supreme Court on the Labour Party and will communicate its decision to the public in due course.”
The commission had on June 8, 2024 communicated to Abure that his tenure as Labour Party National Chairman had expired, and subsequently excluded him from stakeholders’ meetings it had with National Chairmen of registered political parties. Abure was however, readmitted and his name uploaded on the commission’s website, but indicated that it was based on court order.
Usman, at a press conference on May 7, accused Abure of impersonating the office of the National Chairman of the Labour Party, and said Abure’s “actions have not only violated the spirit and letter of the law but have also brought the image and integrity of our great party into disrepute.”
Consequently, she announced an investigative committee headed by Senator Ireti Kingibe has been set up to trial Abure for impersonation and fraud.
The hallmark of Abure’s press conferences and statements is his persistent attack on Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, who was elected on the Labour Party platform. On many occasions, he had threatened Otti with a disciplinary action for alleged anti-party activities.
In a counter move, following the constitution of committee to trial him for impersonation, Abure said Otti and Kingibe were among Labour Party members suspended from the party. Alhaji Umar Farouak, National Secretary of the now sacked NWC who signed the statement, explained that it was based on the report of a disciplinary committee set up on May 2 over allegations of anti-party activities against Otti.
He said: “The National Executive of the party met … and after exhaustive deliberation in line with powers donated to it by the party constitution has ratified the recommendation as submitted by the disciplinary committee. Consequent upon that, (Otti and four other) members of the party have been suspended from the party and all its activities, indefinitely and with immediate effect.”
INEC said it did not monitor the 2024 Nnewi national convention that Abure claimed reelected him into office because it did not meet the requirements. For instance, there was no congresses for the election of ward, local government and state executives, nor were there primaries for election of national delegates, before the national convention. This is contrary to the provisions of the Section 223 of the 999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Labour Party Constitution and INEC Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties.
Abure did not limit his attack on Otti and National Assembly members, he occasionally launched attacks on the national leader of the party, Mr. Peter Obi, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its President, Joe Ajaero.
Sometime in January this year, an amorphous group, which calls itself, Alliance for All Labour Party Professionals and Stakeholders (AALPS), called on Abure to sanction Obi and severe any ties with him, if he appeals against the Appeal Court that revalidated Abure’s national convention.
The group said Obi was frustrated out of the PDP and Abure offered him a platform in the Labour Party. “Ask Obi how much he paid to the party for the presidential ticket. This is the only presidential candidate of a major political party that could not donate an ordinary bicycle to the party for campaign, even up till this moment. He refused to fund the party, yet this same party has even contemplated making him the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, yet he is busy funding the crisis in the party,” the group said in a statement by Dr. Blessing Elaigwu.
When Abure was having a running battle with Lamidi Apapa over the leadership of the party, he ran to the NLC for protection. Now he is accusing the NLC and its President Joe Ajaero of forcefully breaking into the LP national headquarters and carting away valuables.
Obiora Ifoh, a member of the group, in a statement, said Ajero should “learn that attacking law abiding citizens, hooliganism and rascality is not a trait of a good unionist. He should be concerned more about workers’ welfare. He has since politicised the labour union in Nigeria and he is no longer fit to occupy that exalted office. We have once advised him to quit unionism and join politics but he will not listen.
“We must state categorically that the NLC has no right to attack any Labour Party office because there is no trade dispute. Based on the trade dispute Act, you cannot picket or declare a strike without a trade dispute. In any case, we do not have any staff of the NLC in our employment. There is no union in our offices. Their action is purely an illegality.”
Abure’s questionable role
One may be tempted to read meanings into Abure’s refusal to quit after the April 4 declaratory Supreme Court judgement that sacked him from office. His role has been rather disruptive to the fortunes of the party, leading one to ask whose agenda is he actually serving?
Although his narrative is that the Supreme Court holds that the courts have no business in political party leadership, and that he was not sacked by the Supreme Court. More than one month after the judgement, Abure is still unable to present the CTC of the judgement to back the claim.
It is being rumoured that the crisis in the Labour Party has everything to do with the 2027 election. And Abure is being used to weaken the party and ensure that the President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have an easy electoral victory.
Abure had accused Apapa of working with external forces to destabilise the party. Now he is holding Labour Party down or even by the jugular
Governor Otti disclosed that there have been overtures to Abure to drop his ambition and allow peace to return to the Labour Party, but he rebuffed them. The governor said he offered Abure the board of trustees (BoT) chairmanship, but he rejected it.
Said he, “I sat with Mr. Abure last year and I asked him what he really wanted and he said, he didn’t want anything. I said okay, I can speak to my leaders and you can be the BoT chairman. I offered that with their approval.
“If you want to still lead this party, you have to go through the process. You have to purchase a form, then the process starts, and if you win, you will return but I also gave him some piece of advice.
“I said, if I were you, I wouldn’t want to lead people who wouldn’t want me to lead them. So, if you come into this kind of room, and I present myself, and I say, I want to be your chairman, and you say you don’t want to, there is no way I can impose myself.” What Abure is pushing can therefore be better imagined.
