The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday laid to a total rest as the court removed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise the Senator Esther Nenadi Usman–led executive of the party.
Justice Justice Peter Lifu delivering his ruling on Wednesday, relied on the April 4, 2025, decision of the Supreme Court to affirm Nenadi, a former Minister of Finance, as the legitimate leader of the labour party in Nigeria.
In his Judgement, Peter Lifu ordered the Nigeria's Electoral umpire Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to henceforth and immediately recognise the Nenadi-led Caretaker Committee as “the only valid authority to represent the Labour Party,” pending the conduct of a national convention.
The ruling followed a suit marked THC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, filed by Nenadi. Julius Abure and the Nigerian Labour Congress were listed as defendants.
Justice Lifu held that evidence before the court showed that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had expired.
The judgement dismissed Abure’s argument that the matter was an internal party affair and therefore non-justiciable, ruling instead that the establishment of the caretaker committee was “a necessity” arising from the Supreme Court’s decision.
The judge recalled that the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee had earlier removed Abure following a leadership crisis within the party. A 29-member caretaker committee was subsequently constituted, with Nenadi appointed as chairperson.
That decision followed an expanded stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, and hosted by Governor Alex Otti. The meeting was chaired by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, a former ally of Abure.
Abure, dissatisfied with his removal, had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking validation of his position as national chairman. In an affidavit supporting suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, he claimed he was lawfully elected Acting National Chairman at a NEC meeting in Benin City on March 29, 2021, following the death of the party’s substantive chairman.
He further told the court that at a NEC meeting held in Asaba on April 18, 2023, and monitored by INEC, the party renewed the tenures of state chairmen, expelled members accused of anti-party activities, and filled resulting vacancies.
Abure also said the party held its national convention on March 27, 2024, in Nnewi, Anambra State, where he was elected National Chairman, adding that the party under his leadership produced candidates for the Edo and Ondo governorship elections.
Although both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal initially ruled in Abure’s favour and ordered INEC to recognise him, the Supreme Court later overturned those decisions.
In a lead judgment prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro, the apex court allowed the appeal filed by Nenadi and the committee’s secretary, Hon. Darlington Nwokocha, while dismissing Abure’s cross-appeal.
The Supreme Court also urged political parties to adhere strictly to their constitutions in appointing officers and advised officials whose tenures had expired to vacate office accordingly.
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