The Federal High Court in Abuja has reaffirmed Mr. Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fully recognize his leadership.
The judgement, delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite on Tuesday, instructed INEC to grant the Labour Party under Abure’s leadership all the rights and privileges associated with a duly registered political party in Nigeria.
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In addition, the court ordered INEC to carry out its legal duty by providing refresher training for the upload of Labour Party agents onto the INEC portal and to issue Abure the necessary Access Code for the Ondo Governorship Election scheduled for November 16, 2024.
This ruling was the result of a suit filed by Abure, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, in which INEC was the sole defendant.
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Abure, in an affidavit supporting his case, explained that after the passing of the previous National Chairman of the Labour Party, he was elected Acting National Chairman at a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on March 29, 2021, in Benin City, Edo State.
He further told the court that at another NEC meeting on April 18, 2023, in Asaba, Delta State, which was monitored by INEC, the party resolved to renew the tenures of State Chairmen whose terms had expired.
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During that same meeting, members involved in anti-party activities were expelled, and replacements for vacant positions were made.
Abure stated that following a consensus at the meeting, the party held a National Convention on March 27, 2024, in Nnewi, Anambra State, where he was formally elected as the National Chairman of the Labour Party.
Under his leadership, the party fielded candidates for governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.
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On June 28, 2024, INEC issued a notice to Abure and 18 other party chairmen regarding the inspection of sensitive election materials for the Ondo and Edo state governorship elections.
However, Abure complained that he was excluded from a later INEC notice instructing political parties to nominate two IT personnel for training on uploading data to the INEC portal for the Ondo gubernatorial election.
He only became aware of the notice on August 21, 2024, through his involvement with the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC).
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As a result, Abure asked the court to compel INEC to recognize him as the National Chairman of the Labour Party. In his ruling, Justice Nwite agreed with Abure, stating:
“I am of the view that and so hold that the basis of these cogent verifiable documents, the defendant’s attempt to impeach the validity of the leadership of the plaintiff fails. The plaintiff has proved his case.”
Justice Nwite continued:
“I hereby make an order compelling the defendant to accord the plaintiff’s political party under the leadership of Barrister Julius Abure all the rights and privileges accorded a political party duly registered in Nigeria.”
This judgement comes in the wake of a leadership crisis within the Labour Party. Last month, the party’s NEC removed Abure as National Chairman during a stakeholders’ meeting hosted by Governor Alex Otti of Abia State in Umuahia.
The meeting, chaired by former Labour Party presidential candidate Mr. Peter Obi, resulted in the formation of a 29-member caretaker committee, with former finance minister Senator Esther Nenadi Usman as Chairperson and Hon. Darlington Nwokocha as Secretary.
Despite this internal dispute, the court has now affirmed Abure’s leadership as legitimate.
