The leadership crisis in the Labour Party has taken another turn as Julius Abure rejected the latest ruling of the Court of Appeal and moved to challenge it at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
NOP NIGERIA reports that the Appeal Court, sitting in Abuja, had dismissed Abure’s case and upheld an earlier judgment that removed him as the party’s national chairman. The court also backed the decision recognizing Nenadi Usman as the legitimate leader of the party.
The dispute followed an earlier ruling by the Federal High Court, which relied on a prior decision of the Supreme Court that nullified the process that brought Abure into office. The courts maintained that his tenure had ended and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to deal with Usman’s leadership.
Not satisfied with the outcome, Abure said he and his supporters do not accept the judgment. He insisted that the party’s convention held in 2024 remains valid and still supports his claim to leadership.
He has now instructed his lawyers to take the matter to the Supreme Court in a fresh attempt to overturn the Appeal Court ruling.
“We have seen what transpired today at the Appeal Court and we want to say very clearly that the judgement is not acceptable to all of us in the Labour Party led by my humble self.
“I want to say very clearly that the judgement is against all known principles of law. The courts, the Supreme Court and all courts in Nigeria have stated very clearly that the issues of leadership of a political party is an internal affair of a political party.
“It is also not true and I disagree when people say that the tenure of this executive has expired. That is untrue and very unacceptable to us. Nigerians will recall that on the 27th of March 2024, we had a valid convention that was held in Nnewi and that convention is still valid and subsisting for four years. I want to say that the court today didn’t look at that before arriving at the conclusion that the tenure has expired.
“I must also say clearly that the Umuahia meeting which produced the Caretaker Committee was also against the Labour Party constitution. It is only the National Chairman and National Secretary of a political party who has the power to convene any NEC meeting of any sort.
“I want to say very clearly that we are going to appeal that decision. Today’s decision of the Appeal Court is not acceptable to us and we reject it in its entirety. We have put our legal team together and we are going to file an appeal and move to the Supreme Court,” the statement read.
