The Federal High Court in Abuja has removed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), declaring former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, as the party’s valid leader.
Justice Peter Lifu, in a judgment, relied on the April 4, 2025, verdict of the Supreme Court to uphold the leadership of the Senator Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee.
The court consequently ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately recognise the committee as “the only valid authority to represent the Labour Party,” pending the conduct of a national convention.
The ruling followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, filed by Usman. Abure and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) were listed as defendants in the matter.
Justice Lifu held that evidence before the court showed that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had expired. He dismissed Abure’s argument that the dispute was an internal party affair and therefore non-justiciable, ruling instead that the establishment of the LP Caretaker Committee was a “necessity” arising from the directive of the Supreme Court.
The court recalled that amid a protracted leadership crisis in the party, the National Executive Committee (NEC) resolved to remove Abure as national chairman and constituted a 29-member caretaker committee, with Usman as chairperson.
The decision was reached at an expanded stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, and hosted by Governor Alex Otti. The meeting was chaired by Abure’s former ally and the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi.
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Aggrieved by his removal, Abure had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja in a separate suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, seeking validation of his position.
In an affidavit, he claimed that he was lawfully elected Acting National Chairman at an NEC meeting in Benin City on March 29, 2021, following the death of the party’s substantive chairman.
Abure further told the court that at an NEC meeting held on April 18, 2023, in Asaba, Delta State, monitored by INEC, the party renewed the tenures of state chairmen whose terms had expired, expelled members accused of anti-party activities, and filled vacant positions.
He also claimed that he was duly elected National Chairman at the party’s national convention held on March 27, 2024, in Nnewi, Anambra State, and that the party under his leadership fielded candidates in the Edo and Ondo governorship elections.
Although both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had earlier ruled in Abure’s favour and ordered INEC to recognise him, the Supreme Court overturned the decisions.
In a lead judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Okoro, the apex court upheld the appeal filed by Usman and the committee’s secretary, Hon. Darlington Nwokocha, while dismissing Abure’s cross-appeal.
The Supreme Court also admonished political parties to strictly adhere to their constitutions and internal rules in appointing officers, urging party officials whose tenures have expired to vacate their offices accordingly.
