Nigeria's Apex Court Sacks Julius Abure as Labour Party Chairman

Nigeria's Apex Court on Friday sacked Barrister Julius Abure as the national Chairman of the Labour Party in Nigeria.

The Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment set aside the judgement of the Appeal Court in Abuja that retrained the controversial Labour Party leader as the chairman.

According to the News Agency Of Nigeria (NAN), a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Mr Abure national chairman of the Labour Party, having earlier found that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.

The court further held that leadership was an internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction and noted that Mr Abure’s tenure had since expired.

The court allowed the appeal filed by Senator Ester Nenadi Usman and one other and held that it was meritorious.

It proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure faction of the LP for being unmeritorious.

It should be noted that in February, Oluchi Oparah, the party’s national treasurer, accused Abure of misappropriating N3.5 billion, a claim the LP chairman denied while threatening legal action.

There were also police investigated criminal cases including forgery which Abure was found curpable.

All these led to calls from party members for Abure’s removal.

In April 2023, the FCT high court issued an order restraining Abure from parading himself as the national chairman of the LP.

Ruling on an ex parte application, Hamza Muazu, the presiding judge, also restrained Farouk Ibrahim, national secretary; Clement Ojukwu, national organising secretary; and Opara; from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

On September 4, Usman was appointed to chair a 29-member caretaker committee after Alex Otti, governor of Abia state, convened a stakeholders meeting of the party in Umuahia.

Peter Obi, LP presidential candidate in 2023, and Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running mate, were among the top party members who attended the meeting.

INEC had also invalidated Abure’s leadership, saying the national convention violated the constitution and Electoral Act.

The electoral body said the party failed to meet legal requirements for holding the convention, insisting that Abure’s tenure as LP national chair expired in June 2024.

But in a judgment on October 8, the federal high court affirmed the Abure-led leadership and the March 2024 Nnewi convention that produced the party executives.

Emeka Nwite, presiding judge, ordered INEC to recognise Abure as the legitimate chairman of the party.

*Appeal Court*

In a judgment delivered on January 17, the court of appeal ruled that its earlier decision in November 2024, recognising Abure as the party’s chairman, remains valid and has not been overturned by any court.

Hamma Barka, who read the lead judgment, held that the appellate court did not consider the two separate appeals filed by the appellants since they bordered on party leadership which the court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate on.

He said anything that is done outside jurisdiction amounts to a nullity.

Consequently, the court voided a judgment of the federal high court delivered on October 8, 2024, on the grounds that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit.

“We cannot say this appeal fails or succeeds because the lower court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place,” Barka held.

Consequently, the Supreme Court nullified any existing judgement recognizing Abure as the national Chairman of the Labour Party.