LP crisis: Abure to appeal court’s recognition of Otti faction

The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party deepened on Wednesday as the National Chairman, Julius Abure, rejected the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise the Nenadi Usman-led caretaker committee loyal to Abia State Governor, Alex Otti.

Abure, through a statement issued in Abuja by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, vowed to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal, insisting that the judgment contradicted the April 2025 verdict of the Supreme Court on the party’s leadership tussle.

The statement was themed ‘Nenadi: Labour Party to appeal judgment.’

The Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, had earlier held that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had elapsed and consequently ordered INEC to recognise the caretaker committee headed by Senator Nenadi Usman pending the conduct of the party’s national convention

Reacting, the Abure-led National Working Committee said it would immediately appeal the decision, describing it as a misinterpretation of the Supreme Court’s judgment and an intrusion into the internal affairs of the party.

He said, “Although we are yet to see the Certified True Copy of the judgment to fully make a comment about it, our position will become stronger when we see the CTC of the judgment. But generally, from the brief we have gotten so far, it is clear that the party will appeal the judgment.”

The party leadership alleged procedural irregularities in the handling of the case, claiming that warning signs emerged even before judgment was delivered.

“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there was a somersault, as another matter was filed, which was an improper material, and the one sent to Omotosho was withdrawn and now sent to Justice Peter Lifu. That was a red flag for us,” the statement read.

Abure’s camp further claimed it was denied a fair hearing, alleging that the court refused to allow it respond to issues raised in a counter-affidavit before adjourning for judgment.

The party also alleged that the outcome of the case had been pre-empted by its opponents.

“Secondly, the court refused us the opportunity to respond to issues raised in the counter-affidavit filed by other parties and quickly adjourned for judgment. That was the second red flag,” Ifoh stated.

“Our adversaries were all over the place, jubilating weeks before, over a judgment that has not been delivered, telling everyone that they have already won. The jubilation by our adversaries was all over social media, come today, the judiciary will hand over the party to Dr. Alex Otti,” the spokesperson said.

Questioning the substance of the ruling, the Abure faction argued that the judgment ran contrary to established judicial precedents.

“Nigerians should remember that the Court of Appeal pronounced Julius Abure’s National Working Committee as the authentic leadership of the party. That pronouncement was what Nenadi Usman took to the Supreme Court to say that the courts (Federal High Court and Appeal Court) were wrong to have pronounced somebody as the Chairman of the party.

Ironically, today, a Federal High Court has somersaulted and pronounced somebody as the Caretaker National Chairman of a party. So what is the judiciary turning into?” he stated.

The statement maintained that the Supreme Court had clearly ruled that courts lacked the power to appoint leadership for political parties.

“To us, that was a clear contradiction of 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,” it said.

Abure’s camp also faulted the court’s conclusion that his tenure had expired, insisting that no vacuum existed in the party’s leadership.

“Secondly, even the Supreme Court never said that our tenure has expired. The Supreme Court simply declined jurisdiction in entertaining the matter because it was an internal affair of the party,” the statement added.

Defending the March 2024 national convention, the party maintained that the tenure of the executive had never expired.

The leadership further emphasised that the tenure of the executive was to expire in June 2024, but the National Convention was held in March 2024, before the expiration of the then executive, an exercise it said created the present leadership of the party.

So, for the court to have stated that the tenure has expired and a vacuum created is all laughable.

It further queried how the court arrived at its conclusion without interrogating the legality of the convention.

“It is curious how this court arrived at holding that there was a vacuum in the leadership of the party when it didn’t go into the validity and legality of the national convention of the party held on March 27th, 2024,” the statement read.

While urging party members to remain calm, the leadership insisted it would exhaust all legal avenues to reclaim its position.

The statement warned that “the party is not for sale and no amount of financial power will make us abdicate our leadership position in the party.”

On Wednesday, Justice Lifu ordered INEC to recognise the Nenadi Usman-led caretaker committee of the Labour Party, pending the conduct of a national convention, after ruling that Abure’s tenure had elapsed.

The court held that the caretaker committee constituted by the party’s National Executive Committee remained the only valid authority to act for and represent the Labour Party, relying on what it described as the subsisting position of the Supreme Court.

The dispute followed an expanded stakeholders’ meeting of the Labour Party held in Umuahia, Abia State, where the National Executive Committee resolved to remove Abure as national chairman.

The meeting was hosted by Governor Alex Otti and chaired by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

Subsequently, the NEC constituted a 29-member caretaker committee, appointing Senator Nenadi Usman as chairperson.

Abure, however, approached the Federal High Court seeking validation of his continued stay in office.

In April 2025, the Supreme Court set aside an earlier Court of Appeal judgment that recognised Abure as the national chairman, holding that appellate courts lacked jurisdiction to determine the leadership of a political party.