The battle for the leadership of the Labour Party took a fresh twist on Friday after the Supreme Court set aside an earlier ruling recognising the Anambra convention that ratified the re-election of the Julius Abure’s National Working Committee.

In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which recognised Abure’s leadership.

The apex court, in its decision, emphasised that matters relating to party leadership were internal affairs, which the judiciary had no jurisdiction.

The court also observed that based on the submissions before it, Abure’s tenure had already expired.

Consequently, it dismissed the cross-appeal filed by the Abure faction of the Labour Party.

While the media was awash with news that Abure had been sacked by the apex court, the party leadership released a statement that the judgment was misinterpreted.

The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, in a statement in Abuja, hailed the judgment of the Supreme Court, saying it validated the party’s position that political matters were strictly internal affairs.

A few hours later, the party called for a press conference where the spokesman also refuted the report making the rounds that the apex court sacked the party leadership.

Abure’s absence raises eyebrows

The absence of Abure, who was said to be mourning his father-in-law, was felt at the media briefing.

Ifoh said, “The Supreme Court judgment didn’t sack Labour Party National Chairman, Julius Abure. Rather, it rightly upheld the preceding and accumulated High Court and appeal court judgments upholding the immutability of responsibility of Labour Party structures to choose its leaders.

“The judgement did not also set aside the Appeal Court judgement in Labour Party vs Ebiseni and two others (CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024) delivered on 13 November 2024, which affirmed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party. The judgement is still valid and subsisting and has not been appealed.

The implication is very clear. Abure remains the Labour Party national chairman. The question is: who are the leaders of the party? The party constitution is clear as to who the leaders of the party are. The leadership of the party has been the National Working Committee led by Barrister Julius Abure.”

Continuing, the LP spokesman said the party’s constitution was also clear on who had the power to call for the national convention or any national meeting.

He hinged his argument on Article 14 of the 2024 constitution as amended, which gives powers to the national secretary of the party “to issue notices of meetings of the national convention, national executive council, the national working committee in consultation with and approval of the National Chairman.

“Accordingly, the national convention of the party was called by the leadership of the party on March 27, 2024, where the leaders of the party emerged. The report of the national convention is already with INEC and that leadership is recognised by INEC.

“The gathering of people in Umuahia is clearly not in line with the constitution, and therefore, the celebration by some persons that the leadership of Julius Abure has been sacked is only trying to be mischievous and misleading; the Supreme Court didn’t say so,” he added.

He appealed to all members of the Labour Party to abide by the judgement of the apex court, always resort to internal party mechanisms in resolving party affairs and not to always rush to the court.

No room for caretaker panel – Legal Adviser

The LP National Legal Adviser, Kehinde Edun, said the judgment was deliberately twisted to suit the narrative of the party’s detractors.

Edun explained that what the court reeled out was that in political party administration, an official elected for a term in office could either choose to bow out or seek re-election if that term expired.

“It never mentioned that Abure’s tenure has expired. It only talked about the constitution of a political party, prescribing the tenure of office of an elected officer. That’s in the context of what is happening in Labour Party today. Yes, the tenure ended in 2019, extended for one year in 2023, and elapsed in 2024

https://punchng.com/scourt-lp-affirms-abure-as-chair-nlc-caretaker-panel-disagree/