Last week’s judgment of the Federal High Court that sacked the factional Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure may have signalled the beginning of the end of the protracted leadership crisis that hit the opposition party, Ejiofor Alike reports

The judgment delivered last Wednesday by Justice Peter Lifu of a Federal High Court in Abuja, sacking Julius Abure as the factional National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), did not come to many watchers of the protracted leadership crisis in the opposition party as a surprise.

Abure ran into trouble when he organised a national convention of the party at Nnewi, Anambra State on March 27, 2024, where he was re-elected without the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) monitoring or recognising the exercise as required by the law.

The convention did also not enjoy the support of the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi; the only elected governor on the party’s platform, Alex Otti of Abia State, and other critical stakeholders of the party, who insisted that Abure’s tenure had expired since June 10, 2024.

Indications that INEC did not recognise the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) that emerged from the Nnewi convention came to light in July 2024 when a senior lawyer involved one of the LP leadership disputes in court requested for a copy of LP’s constitution and a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the convention document from INEC.

In its reply to the request, the electoral commission, in a letter referenced INEC/DEPM/LP/CTC/885/1, dated July 18, 2024 and signed by Acting Secretary, Haliru Aminu, stated that it couldn’t provide the CTC of report of the convention because it did not monitor it.

Aminu explained: “Regrettably, the commission did not monitor the Labour Party Convention of 27th March, 2024 and cannot therefore report on the convention.”

While the other critical stakeholders of the party believed that the commission, by that letter, had de-recognised the LP, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, argued that the inability of the commission to monitor the convention did not in any way invalidate it, insisting that the party gave notice of the convention to the commission as required by the law.

Worried by INEC’s position on LP’s leadership, Governor Otti convened the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC)/Extended Stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, Abia State on September 4, 2024, with Obi; his former running mate, Mr. Datti Baba-Ahmed, and other stakeholders in attendance.

At the meeting, the party inaugurated a 29-man Caretaker Committee to run the party with a former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman as chairman, and Darlington Nwokocha as secretary.

The caretaker committee was given 90 days to midwife an election that would usher in a new national leadership.

The emergence of the caretaker committee worsened the leadership crisis in the party and fueled litigation.

The litigations came to a peak on April 4, 2025 with a Supreme Court judgment in an Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025, which held that Abure’s tenure had expired.

However, both the Usman-led and Abure’s factions laid claim to victory in the apex court’s judgment due to what many lawyers perceived as its ambiguity, which led to its controversial interpretation.

But in arriving at last Wednesday’s judgment, which sacked Abure, Justice Lifu said the court’s decision was based on the apex court’s judgment of April 4, 2025.

Justice Lifu also held that the evidence before the court established that Abure’s tenure as the national chairman of the LP had since elapsed.

The 29-member caretaker committee had dragged Abure to the Federal High Court over leadership tussles in the party.

Delivering judgment in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, Justice Lifu observed that the apex court had declared the Caretaker Committee of the party led by Mrs. Nenadi Usman, as the valid leadership of the LP.

Justice Lifu went ahead to make an order directing the INEC to forthwith, recognise the Usman-led Caretaker Committee as “the only valid authority to represent the Labour Party,” pending when the party convenes a national convention.

It would also be recalled that in a counter affidavit sworn to in another separate suit number, FHC/ABJ/CS/1523/2025, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, INEC had in response to an affidavit filed by Abure’s legal team, confirmed that his tenure had expired.

In the said case, the Abure-led leadership had approached the court to compel INEC to recognise its candidates for the August 16, 2025 by-election in several states.

But in the counter affidavit deposed by the commission’s executive officer (Litigation and Prosecution), Ayuba Mohammed in August 2025, the commission had insisted that the tenure of Abure expired as clearly stated in the Supreme Court judgment of April 4, 2025.

The commission said It did not recognise the Nnewi convention, having found it to be in flagrant breach of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2022, INEC’s own Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022, and the Labour Party’s constitution.

Meanwhile, in arriving at his decision to sack Abure, Justice Lifu noted that contrary to Abure’s submission, the issue before it was not an internal affair of a political party that is non-justiceable.

Justice Lifu held that the setting up of the 29-member LP Caretaker Committee was “a necessity” that arose from the order of the Supreme Court.

After the emergence of the 29-member caretaker committee, Abure had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to validate his position as the National Chairman of the party.

In the affidavit he personally deposed to in support of the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, Abure had argued that he was lawfully elected in acting capacity at a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the party held in Benin City, Edo State, on March 29, 2021.

He stated further that on April 18, 2023, the party held a NEC meeting in Asaba, Delta State where the decision to hold the Nnewi convention was reached.

While both the High Court and the Court of Appeal upheld Abure’s case and ordered INEC to recognise him, he was however sacked by the Supreme Court which nullified the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts.

In its lead judgment that was prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro, the apex court allowed the appeal that was filed by Senator Usman and Nwokocha, and dismissed a cross appeal that was filed by Abure.

The Supreme Court implored officials of political parties whose tenures have elapsed to learn to vacate their positions.

However, both factions of the party claimed victory in the Supreme Court’s judgment.

While analysts believe Abure has reached the end of the road with his sack last Wednesday, the sacked LP national chairman has vowed to appeal the judgment

This suggests that the case may still run another full course to the Supreme Court, which could have been avoided if the September 4 apex court’s judgment was not perceived by lawyers as being ambiguous and interpreted differently by the two parties. (THISDAY)

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