Julius Abure Sets to Dislodge Nenadi from within as reconciliation talks with Otti collapsed

The Labour Party's Factional National Chairman Julius Abure, has dismissed speculations that reconciliation talks between his camp and Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, collapsed over alleged financial demands, insisting that money was never discussed during the closed-door meeting. Punch newspaper reported Wednesday.

The supreme Court sacked former chairman disclosed this in an interview with  news men amid a lingering leadership crisis rocking the opposition party.

The National leader of the party and governor of Abia State Alex Otti had last month declared that the Labour Party remained open to reconciliation with Abure and his loyalists ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Otti had made the remark during the inaugural meeting of the party’s National Working Committee held at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, where he attended as an observer.

The party during the National Convention had absorbed some of his loyalists and through consensus appointed them into important NWC positions. Notable among them is Madam Hilda Dokubo who is now the National women's Leader of the party under Nenadi Esther Usman led National Working Committee.

But speaking with Newsmen , Abure clarified that the recent engagement with Otti was strictly convened to explore reconciliation and chart a path toward unity within the party, but eventually ended in a deadlock over disagreements surrounding the control and structures of the party while his loyalists are already penetrating the structures at all levels under Nenadi.

While He (Abure) said the talks failed because Otti allegedly insisted that the existing Abure's structure be dissolved before any reconciliation could move forward. Sources confirmed that already the Abure loyalists have infiltrated the ranks and files of the party's structures both at the national and States levels to deray and dislodge the Nenadi leadership by any means possible.

With the pressures from within now around the National Chairman, the decisions of the party at the national convention and congresses organized and approved at the convention are been jetitioned and disregarded as many state leadership under Nenadi are currently been discarded.

Certain sources with the party argued that if Abure and his followers would be absorbed into the legally and authentic structure of the Labour Party, it should be after all of Abure's litigation against the party at the supreme Court discarded. They urged Nenadi to be careful and keep her structures  Nationwide.

Abure said : “We need to make it categorically clear that the meeting we had with Governor Otti was purely for reconciliation and how to forge ahead. But that meeting produced no headway because the governor refused to give an inch due to his earlier recalcitrant stand.

First, to share the positions in the NWC. Secondly, to take his governorship ticket and produce all the state House of Assembly candidates, including all the candidates for House of Representatives and Senate in Abia state.

Lastly, to produce any other governorship, House of Representatives and senatorial candidates in other states where he might have an interest.

“We further conceded the offices of the National Secretary and other key national offices. But with all these sacrifices from the leadership, the governor declined all the proposals and insisted that all positions in the NWC have already been filled by him, while offering us the Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Trustees.”

Abure also rejected allegations that he demanded financial inducement from the governor as part of the reconciliation process, describing the claims as false and deliberate misinformation.

“We also need to make it very clear that a lot of misconceptions have been spreading, probably deliberately, that the leadership of the Labour Party requested huge sums of money from Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti, to reconcile.

“At no time was the issue of money discussed. Nobody made any financial requests, and nobody offered any money to anyone. We are therefore calling on all party members and supporters to disregard the fake news, whose sources are not too difficult to decipher,” he clarified.

The factional chairman expressed disappointment over the outcome of the reconciliation effort, blaming what he described as Otti’s intransigence for the collapse of the talks.

Abure further stated that his leadership would continue efforts to “recover the party” from what he termed “political buccaneers and merchants” allegedly bent on destabilising the Labour Party.

While he expressed confidence that the lingering leadership dispute would eventually be resolved by the Supreme Court following the appeal filed at the apex court, his loyalists within the continually recognized Nenadi led NWC team are already doing internal damaging and strategic move to reposition the Abure structures within the system.

There were clear indications that neither of the two sides are not willing to support the Nigeria's incumbent President Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC. Members of Abure factions had more than two months ago declared support for the incumbent President, while Nenadi Esther Usman have not openly endorsed the president, members of her NWC from southern Zones have reportedly been routing for Tinubu while LP members in the National Assembly are also reportedly supporting the president.

The endless legal struggles and the victory secured from Court will become meaning if Abure can dislodged from within,  and very useless if both agreed to work and support the anti people Leadership of Bola Hammed Tinubu.

Nigerians who are at the receiving end of the bad governance and who genuinely want a change of leadership in the country through any of the opposition political parties have to do a rethink  and thorough re-evaluation.

THE ILLEGALITY OF JULIUS ABURE PRESENTING CANDIDATES FOR ELECTIONS UNDER THE LABOUR PARTY

By Dr Monday Ubani, SAN.

Legally recognized National Chairman
of Labour Party Senator Nenadi Esther Usman 

The persistent attempt by Mr. Julius Abure to parade himself as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and to recently announce some candidates in his purported primary elections under the platform of the Labour Party has become not only legally indefensible but a direct assault on the rule of law and the integrity of Nigeria’s democratic process.

The issue of the leadership of the Labour Party has already been conclusively determined by the courts, culminating in the decision of the Supreme Court, which made it abundantly clear that the tenure of Julius Abure and his executive had since expired. The apex court recognized the caretaker leadership that emerged to stabilize the party and restore order. In particular, the leadership under Senator Nenadi Usman was acknowledged as the legitimate authority steering the affairs of the party pending a proper convention. 

Ordinarily, in a country governed by law, that should have ended the matter.

However, rather than submit to the finality of judicial pronouncements as demanded by the Constitution and democratic norms, Mr. Abure chose the dangerous route of forum shopping and judicial adventurism. He returned to the trial court in a desperate bid to revive a dead mandate. The courts, both at the trial level and at the Court of Appeal, reportedly made it clear to him that the matter had been settled and that peace should be allowed to reign within the party.

Yet, in complete disregard of these judicial pronouncements, Mr. Abure has continued to act as though he remains the authentic leader of the Labour Party. 

Most astonishing is his purported organization of parallel primaries and the presentation of candidates for elections under the party’s platform, despite the fact that the Labour Party has since held a valid national convention where Senator Nenadi Usman was affirmed as the substantive National Chairman alongside other duly elected executives.

This conduct is not merely provocative; it is profoundly dangerous to constitutional democracy.

Impostor: Julius Abure
with FCT minister Wike

A political party is not a lawless association where individuals can operate according to personal whims. It is an institution regulated by the Constitution, the Electoral Act, the party’s constitution, and the decisions of competent courts. Once the courts have spoken with finality, every person, no matter how highly placed, is bound to obey.

The attempt to run a parallel structure after lawful leadership has emerged amounts to political mischief of the highest order. It creates confusion among party members, deceives unsuspecting aspirants and supporters, and undermines the credibility of the electoral system.

 Worse still, it exposes innocent candidates to avoidable legal disasters, as candidates presented by unauthorized persons or unlawful structures may ultimately find their nominations invalidated by the courts.

One must ask: what exactly is the objective of this persistent defiance by Mr. Abure? No democracy can thrive where individuals place themselves above the law. Nigeria cannot afford to become a laughing stock before the international community because of the reckless conduct of politicians who refuse to accept lawful decisions. The sanctity of judicial pronouncements must be respected if democracy is to survive.

It is even more troubling that a legal practitioner would be associated with conduct that appears to undermine settled judicial decisions. Lawyers are ministers in the temple of justice and are expected to uphold the rule of law, not ridicule it through acts capable of bringing the legal profession into disrepute. 

The Rules of Professional Conduct imposes a duty on lawyers to maintain respect for the courts and the administration of justice.

 Persistent disregard for binding decisions raises serious ethical and disciplinary concerns that the appropriate professional bodies may eventually need to examine.

The security agencies must not fold their arms while this avoidable confusion festers. Where an individual continues to impersonate authority, create parallel political structures, and generate tension capable of disrupting public peace and electoral order, the relevant authorities have a duty to intervene decisively within the bounds of the law. Enough is enough.

Nigeria must move away from the era where political actors behave as though the law is optional. Democracy survives on discipline, order, and respect for institutions. Once the courts have spoken, every patriotic citizen ought to bow to the supremacy of the law.

Mr. Abure must therefore desist from further acts capable of misleading the public, deceiving unsuspecting aspirants, and destabilizing the Labour Party. Any continued attempt to unlawfully parade himself as Chairman of the party or present candidates under an illegal structure may amount not only to political fraud on innocent party members and supporters, but also a deliberate misrepresentation capable of attracting serious legal consequences. 

Members of the public, aspirants, and political stakeholders are therefore strongly advised to exercise caution and avoid dealing with unauthorized persons or factions whose actions are clearly contrary to established judicial pronouncements and the lawful leadership of the party.

The time has come for all genuine stakeholders to rally around lawful authority, obey court decisions, and allow peace, order, and internal democracy to flourish within the party and the nation at large.

Dr Ubani, a legal practitioner is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a public affairs commentator.

Culled from Hot News Channel

Labour Party Convention Invalidate Julius Abure National Convention and congresses, Affirmed the Constitution of Senator Nenadi Esther Usman Led NWC

At the ongoing elective National Convention in Umuahia, Abia State, the delegates have Invalidated the purported national convention conducted by the ex-national chairman of the party Mr. Julius Abure. The convention also Invalidated congresses later conducted by the convention.

However, the convention ratified the then appointment of the Senator Nenadi Esther Usman led interim National Working Committee.

Up to eleven motions were moved and passed by the convention. Among those that moved the motions and seconded it are the National Youth Leader Comrade Anslem Eragbe and Mrs. Nike Oriola moved and seconded the motions invalidating the the congresses conducted the by Abure. Another motion also affirmed the constitution of the interim state working committee across the states of the federation.

The just conducted wards, locals and States congresses were also adopted and unanimously passed by the convention.

Among other motions moved and passed they the NEC in section is the Commendation votes in favour of INEC, Judiciary, Alex Otto led management of the Labour party and Senator Nenadi Esther Usman led national working committee (interim) for restoring stability to the Labour Party (LP)

Ahead of the delegates votes, the convention also moved, seconded and passed the resolution of the interim National Working Committee for the proper conductions of the substantial elective national working committee.

COURT OF APPEAL DISMISSES ABURE’S APPEAL, CENSURES HIM FOR ABUSING JUDICIAL PROCESS

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LABOUR PARTY

LP leaders and lawyers 

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, has, in a unanimous judgment delivered by a three-member panel of Justices, dismissed the appeal filed by Barrister Julius Abure challenging the leadership of the Labour Party.

It will be recalled that on 21st January 2026, Hon. Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, reaffirmed the earlier judgement of the Supreme Court that removed Barr. Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Senator Nenadi Usman as the legitimate leader of the Party, to the exclusion of all others.

Dissatisfied with that decision, Barr. Abure approached the Court of Appeal in suit No. CA/ABJ/CV/255/2026 – Barr. Julius Abure & Anor v. Sen. Nenadi Esther Usman & 3 Ors – seeking to overturn the judgment of the lower court.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi, with Justices A. B. Mohammed and Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike concurring, the appellate court affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court. The court held that the Supreme Court had, on 4th April 2025, conclusively settled the leadership dispute within the Labour Party when it nullified the convention that purportedly returned Barr. Abure as National Chairman.

The appeal court agreed with the trial court that the court below had the powers under Section 251 of the Constitution to compel a statutory Federal Government agency to perform its functions when it ordered the INEC to recognise Senator Nenadi Usman as the national chairman of the Labour Party. The appeal court also agreed with the trial court that the constitution of the Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party headed by Usman was a doctrine of necessity needed to provide leadership in the party when there seemed to be a vacuum in the party. 

The Justices strongly criticised Barr. Abure for abuse of court process and for going on forum shopping in a Nasarawa State High Court on a matter already decided by the Supreme Court and for persisting in laying claim to the leadership of the Party despite the clear and unambiguous pronouncement of the apex court. The Court further held that the appeal was devoid of merit and constituted an abuse of court process.

Consequently, the Court, while dismissing the appeal by Barr. Abure, imposed a cost of Ten Million Naira (N10,000,000) against him for wasting judicial time on a matter that had already been conclusively determined. 

Reacting to the judgment, the Interim National Chairman of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, described the ruling as a victory for democracy and the rule of law. She commended the judiciary for its courage and steadfastness in upholding justice despite attempts by certain elements to undermine its integrity.

Senator Usman also expressed gratitude to party faithful and supporters across the country for their patience, loyalty, and unwavering commitment during the period of uncertainty. She urged all stakeholders to remain focused on the Party’s forthcoming congresses and national convention.

The Party further appreciates members of the media for their professionalism and objective reporting and calls on Nigerians to continue to place their trust in the Labour Party as preparations intensify ahead of the 2027 general elections.

 *Ken Eluma Asogwa* 

Senior Special Adviser (Media) to the Interim National Chairman

21st April, 2026

Labour Party (LP) Zones 2027 Presidential Ticket To Southern Nigeria As Bayelsa State High Court dismissed Abure's Chairmen Application

Usman 

The Nigeria's opposition Labour Party (LP)  has Zones 2027 Presidential Ticket to Southern Nigeria as the party rescheduled it's earlier Congresses And National convention till further notice after setting up the conversation central planning committee.

The national interim Chairman of the party Senator Nenadi Usman confirmed that its 2027 presidential ticket will be zoned to southern Nigeria, ruling out aspirants from the Northern geopolitical Zones.

 Usman made the announcement during a recent interview, as the party prepares for the next general elections in 2027.

 She also addressed a court case filed by some state chairmen under the former Acting National Chairman, Julius Abure whose tenure expired on 8th June 2024 and was sacked by the Supreme Court Judgement of 4th April 2025 in Suit No: SC/CV/56/2025  

Usman noted that their suit was challenging the dissolution of the illegal and voided congresses of December 2025 by the national executive council (NEC) conducted by Abure and his expired executives who had no Jurisdiction.

Nenadi said that the Yenagoa, Bayelsa state High Court dismissed the applicants suit for lacking merit. Nenadi explained that the court reviewed the matter filed by the claimants as lacking in Jurisdiction and ruled in favor of her National Executives whom the Court noted were on the side of truth, legality and party integrity.

On the party congress scheduled for March 26 - 31, 2026 and national convention earlier slated for 11th April, 2026, Usman revealed that the growing number of new members informed the desires for the earlier date to be adjusted. 

She stressed that the decision for the new date would be made collectively to ensure internal democracy and fair participation, noting that the party prioritizes proper representation over sticking rigidly to dates.

Regarding presidential aspirants, Usman stated that the Labour Party does not actively solicit candidates. Interested aspirants must voluntarily choose to run under the LP platform, and the winner of the internal primaries will be the candidate. 

She emphasized that the zoning decision ensures the next presidential candidate will come from southern Nigeria strictly.

When asked about former leaders such as Peter Obi, Usman said they have expressed no intention to return, and the party respects their decision. 

She also confirmed that a petition has been filed with the Nigerian Police regarding recent attacks on party's national secretariat on 10th February, 2026 and members of the party's security guards, assuring that perpetrators will be held accountable as a deterrent.

Usman’s statements reinforced the Labour Party’s commitment to internal democracy, political offices and regional zoning, and organizational growth as it positions itself for the 2027 elections, while maintaining credibility amid rising membership and legal scrutiny.

PRESS RELEASE: LABOUR PARTY SETS TIMETABLE FOR PRIMARIES, FIXES MAY 23, 2026 FOR PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

..... SUSPENDS ERRING MEMBERS

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Labour Party has approved the timetable for the conduct of its primary elections ahead of the 2027 general elections. At a well-attended statutory NEC meeting held on Tuesday, 17th March 2026, and duly observed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Party, in compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC’s guidelines, approved the following schedule:

1. Submission of Membership Register to INEC – April 15, 2026

2. Governorship, Senate, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly Primaries – Friday, May 15, 2026

3. Presidential Primary Election – Saturday, May 23, 2026

NEC also noted with satisfaction and ratified the actions of the National Leadership of the Party regarding the conduct of Ward, Local Government, and State Congresses scheduled for March 26, 28, and 31, 2026 respectively, as well as the National Convention slated for April 11, 2026.

The Council, which remains the highest decision-making organ of the Party after the National Convention, reviewed recent developments within the Party. This included the recent unfortunate invasion of the Party Secretariat by hoodlums allegedly sponsored by certain rogue elements.

Following a thorough review of the report and recommendations of the Peace, Reconciliation and Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Comrade Salisu Mohammed (BOT Secretary), NEC invoked its disciplinary powers and approved the suspension of the following members for acts of indiscipline, anti-party activities, and complicity in the desecration of the Party's National Secretariat: Eneyi G. Zidougha, Hilda Doukubo, Lincolin Charles, Muhammed Sabitu Aliyu, Ogar Osim, Vincent Okwuokei, Casmir Agbo Uchenna, Simon Zubairu Bamga, Abduljamid Sa’ad Suleiman, Emmanuel Agida, Auwala Ahmed, Ularama Jubrila, Grace Zafara Posat, Suleiman Abdurahman Abdul, Ajibade Adekunle Samson, Alexander Emmanuel Ombugu, Elizabeth Ativie, Godwin Jioke, Airen Igbinedion, Osas Frank, Kennedy Ahanotu, Ayidele Olurunfemi, B. Arabanbi, Umar Faruk Ibrahim, Auwal Tafoki, and Obiora Ifoh.

NEC further ratified and approved the ongoing expansion of the Party’s membership register through a hybrid approach - Digital Membership Registration (e-registration) alongside manual registration in rural communities. This initiative is aimed at modernizing the Party’s database, strengthening participatory democracy, and enhancing transparency and efficiency in Party administration, in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.

Additionally, NEC resolved that all existing vacancies within Party structures shall be filled through the appointment of interim leadership to ensure continuity in administration. The National Leadership has been duly empowered to make such appointments, which will remain in acting capacity pending the conduct of substantive congresses in accordance with the Party Constitution and approved timetable.

The Council also urged members to utilize the Party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms to address grievances, thereby promoting unity and minimizing internal conflicts.

Finally, NEC welcomed the recent judgment of the Federal High Court affirming the leadership of Senator Nenadi Usman as Interim National Chairman. The Council passed a vote of confidence on her leadership, the Interim National Working Committee, the BOT, leadership of the NLC, leadership of the TUC, and the leadership of Governor Alex Otti. NEC also commended INEC for its prompt compliance with the court’s pronouncement.

 Ken Eluma Asogwa

Senior Special Adviser (Media) to the Interim National Chairman

March 18, 2026

Labour Party Submits New Dates For Ward, Local Government, State Congresses, National Convention To INEC

The opposition Labour Party has submitted new dates for the Ward, Local Government, State Congresses and the National Convention of the the Party to the Nigeria's electoral umpire the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to the new schedule sent to the INEC by the Senator Nenadi Esther Usman led National Working Committee of the party for theq congresses and national convention, the Ward and Local Government Congresses will hold on 26 and 28th March, 2026.

The State Congress is scheduled for 31st March, 2026. The National Convention will  hold on the 11th of April, 2026.

While the party leadership scheduled the congresses and the National Convention, reliable sources confirmed that the Julius Abure and Alhaj Lamidi Apapa camps are also orchestrating plans to stage a comeback through the Congress.

One of the source informed that some of the states Chairmen loyal to Abure addressed his few followers that are still with him that the party was no longer with them but they have only congresses to wait for to stage surprise comeback most especially at the Ward, local and State level.

The ball is the court of Senator Nenadi Esther Usman led National Working Committee of the Labour Party to allow the traders and negotiators to take the party back from them through a back door after years of crisis and legal battles.

Nenadi Vs Abure: Sir Dele Abiola Meets Atayese in his Den

It was a surprise and unbelievable event that the Oyo State Interim Chairman of the Labour Party Sir Dele Abiola could just lead a handful of his interim team to the den of the former Chairman of the party Mr Sodiq Tunji (Atayese) who is still holding on as the chairman of the party regardless of Senator Nenadi Esther Usman appointment of the interim committee for many of the states of the federation.

Earlier on 2nd of March, a letter had been dispatched to Atayese demanding for the official handing over of whatever party's assets and liabilities under his care to the interim state working committee. Why those at the office refused to collect the the dispatched letter in his behalf, a soft copy was sent to Atayese via is WhatsApp number. He acknowledged the receipt of it. By yesterday 4th of March, it was agreed that they can both meet today at the party Secretariat under the control of Atayese believing that he will never come or perhaps he would have been there with thugs to take over the party secretariat from them by force.

At the brief meeting that lasted for more that one hour, after introductions of his entourages, sir Dele Abiola notified the Atayese team of the existence of the Interim State Working Committee of the Labour Party and demanded for the Handing Over of Party's assets and liabilities to his interim leadership.

The former Chairman who acknowledged the ascendance of Senator Nenadi Esther Usman as the National Chairman of the Labour Party via the judgement of an Abuja High Court maintained that the Supreme Court had ruled that matters of political parties are internal matters but agreed to follow due process. He also affirmed that he has been in contact through one of the Nenadi' deputies.

Sodiq Tunji Atayese maintained that he has conducted Congress in Oyo State and was witnessed by the INEC officials in the state.

With many occasional threats to let loose the gate of hell on the visitors, even with many unprintable words and bewilderment, Atayese and many others in the meeting wondered and salute the courage of the interim Chairman Sir Dele Abiola to have dare to come to their den.

Atayese team also asked whether their was any letter from senator Nenadi Usman requesting them to hand over the party Secretariat. He said even of there is or was any letter of appointment, that is null and void. 

However , it can be deduced that as much as he and his team believed that there can be upturn of the High Court Judgement that enthroned Nenadi in the appeal, he also is ready and has been making efforts to align with the party's National Working Committee through those around the National Chairman just to retain the party structures in the State just has his loyalty shifted from Alhaj Lamidi Apapa to Mr. Julius Abure in desperate determination to retain the party's platform for usual negotiations with the highest bidders.

Sir Dele Abiola in responding to all the vituperation, said the Interim State Working Committee will notify the national of all their concerns and questions and that due process devoid of illegality will be followed to put the party back in lines.

Against all expectations, the meeting ended with the two sides taking several pictures. The security officer of the State Security Service were present.

Toyin Gbadegesin

Oyo State Labour Party: Sir Dele Abiola Led Interim EXCOS Writes Ex Chairman Sodiq Tunji, Asks For Official Handover Of the Party in the State

The Newly Appointed interim State Working Committee of the Labour Party (LP) in Oyo State under the leadership of Sir Dele Abiola have written a letter to the immediate past Chairman of the party in the state Mr Sodiq Tunji (Atayese) and his defunct EXCO, asking for official handing over of the party's properties.

In a letter addressed to Barrister Julius Abure's point man in the state Mr. Sodiq Tunji (Atayese), titled: Request for Handing Over of Party's Properties and Transition of Leadership To the Newly Appointed Interim EXCOS, duly signed by both the interim Chairman Sir Dele Abiola and interim Secretary Mr. Solomon Oloyede, the letter asked the ex Chairman to within two (2) working days to 5 working days from the date of receipt, to arrange for the official hand over of the party's properties under his care.

The letter dated 2nd of March, 2026 was copied to the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Director, DSS, Oyo State, the National Chairman of the Party Senator Nenadi Esther Usman, NLC/TUC political Commission, Oyo State and the Press.

The letter reads in part:

Dear Mr. Sodiq Tunji (Atayese),

Request for Handing Over of Party's Properties and Transition of Leadership To the Newly Appointed

Interim EXCOS

This letter serves as a formal notification to you and your former executive committee members of the Oyo

State Labour Party, to handover all party properties within your jurisdiction to the newly appointed

leadership within two (2) working days to 5 working days from the date of receipt of this letter.

You are required to surrender all assets, documents, and properties belonging to the Labour Party, Oyo State

Chapter, to ensure a smooth transition and running of the party in the state.

This process becomes very necessary to ensure the party move forward in the state. Please acknowledge the

receipt of this letter and confirm your compliance.

Thanks for your anticipated cooperation.

The Senator Nenadi Esther Usman Leadership of the Labour Party in Nigeria is working round the clock to reposition the part for 2027 general elections in in the country.

CRIMINALITIES: Nenadi Esther Usman Reveals How Julius Abure and His Criminal Gangs broke into the Labour Party's Headquarters, Catch Away Documents

Nenadi Usman 

Julius Abure's criminality in Labour Party (LP) has been exposed.

He must be arrested and prosecuted. 

Enough is Enough!

VIDEO 

The atrocities of Julius Abure knows no bound he is an epitome of criminality per excellent.

Labour Party Crises Laid to Rest As Federal High Court Removes Julius Abure, Affirms Nenadi Esther Usman Leadership

 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.

ABURE DROWNING: RE: CLAIMS ON ACCESS CODE FOR LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATES IN THE 2026 FCT AREA COUNCIL ELECTION — INEC Press statement

The Nigeria's Electoral umpire has in a press statement maintained that the body is not in anyway ignoring the supreme court judgement that upheld the tenure expiration of the impostor Barrister Julius Abure and that the body's continuous relating with the expired ex Chairman has been base on concurrent Exparte order which has also expired now.

By an Order Exparte in this latest Suit No. CV/4930/2025, the FCT High Court sitting in Life Camp, Abuja granted an interim Order on 16th December, 2025, directing the Commission to upload the names and particulars of the Labour Party candidates for the FCT Area Council Election. The Court expressly stated that the Order would lapse after seven days unless extended. Upon being served with the originating processes, INEC promptly filed its defence, challenging the competence of the suit and the jurisdiction of the Court. The interim Order consequently lapsed on 23rd December, 2025 and was not extended. Accordingly, there is presently no subsisting Court Order for INEC to act upon.

READ THE FULL INEC STATEMENT BELOW 👇👇👇

 INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION 

PRESS STATEMENT 

RE: CLAIMS ON ACCESS CODE FOR LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATES IN THE 2026 FCT AREA COUNCIL ELECTION

On Monday, 5th January, 2026 some supporters of the Labour Party protested at the INEC Headquarters, Abuja complaining about the exclusion of their candidates for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Election scheduled for Saturday, 21st February, 2026 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and demanded for the issuance of access code to upload its candidates for the election.

In response, the Commission wishes to state that the Labour Party has been enmeshed in prolonged internal leadership disputes since 2024, which culminated in the judgment of the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025 (Usman v. Labour Party) delivered on 4th April 2025. In that decision, the Apex Court unequivocally held that the tenure of the Barr. Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee had expired. Despite this clear pronouncement, the Abure-led faction purportedly conducted primaries for the August 16, 2025, bye-election nationwide and the FCT Area Council Election.

It is also pertinent to recall that the Abure-led faction instituted Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1523/2025– Labour Party v. INEC at the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging the decision of INEC excluding it from participating in the bye-election. Judgment was delivered on 15th August, 2025, dismissing the suit and enforcing the Supreme Court’s position that Barr. Julius Abure was no longer recognised as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and thus upholding the decision of INEC to exclude the Labour Party from the bye-election.

Thereafter, the Labour Party filed multiple suits against INEC in different courts, all seeking Orders compelling INEC to grant an access code for the upload of its candidates for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Election scheduled for Saturday, 21st February, 2026. These suits include Suit No. NSD/LF.84/2024 before the Nasarawa State High Court, Akwanga Division. When the matter at the Nasarawa State High Court got stalled, the Labour Party approached the Federal High Court Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2110/2025 seeking an Order compelling INEC to issue Access Codes to its candidates and the matter is still pending before the Court.

The Labour Party again approached the FCT High Court, Jabi Division in another fresh Suit No. CV/4792/2025 and filed a Motion seeking an Order compelling INEC to issue Access Codes to its candidates for the FCT Area Council election. The matter was adjourned, after INEC had filed its Reply, to 15th January 2026 for the hearing of the motion. One would have expected the Party to wait for the hearing of this motion, but the Labour Party filed another suit in Suit No. CV/4930/2025 before the FCT High Court, Life Camp Division, seeking the same relief to compel INEC to grant Access Codes to upload its candidates for the FCT Area Council election. 

By an Order Exparte in this latest Suit No. CV/4930/2025, the FCT High Court sitting in Life Camp, Abuja granted an interim Order on 16th December, 2025, directing the Commission to upload the names and particulars of the Labour Party candidates for the FCT Area Council Election. The Court expressly stated that the Order would lapse after seven days unless extended. Upon being served with the originating processes, INEC promptly filed its defence, challenging the competence of the suit and the jurisdiction of the Court. The interim Order consequently lapsed on 23rd December, 2025 and was not extended. Accordingly, there is presently no subsisting Court Order for INEC to act upon.

Given that the matter is sub judice, INEC will continue to respect the sanctity of the judicial process and await the final determination of the pending cases. The Commission reiterates its unwavering commitment to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, as well as its Regulations and Guidelines, and will continue to hold political parties accountable to democratic standards and the Rule of Law in the conduct of their internal affairs.

Mrs. Victoria Eta-Messi

Director, Voter Education and Publicity 

7th January, 2026

Party politics: INEC, Presidency Complicits in Sustaining illegality to undermine Labour Party - Eragbe

 

Labour Party (LP) Press Statement : "COURT STOPS ABURE FROM GOING AHEAD WITH HIS ILLEGAL CONGRESSES

The general public, particularly all Labour Party (LP) supporters across the country, are hereby notified that on 26th November, 2025, the High Court of Abia State sitting in Isiala Ngwa granted an interim order in Suit No: HIN/47/2025. 

The order, sought by Hon. (Sir) Emmanuel Nwaeze Otti, restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Barr. Julius Abure and his illegal National Working Committee from proceeding with their purported and unlawful ward, local government, and state congresses.

The Labour Party (LP) therefore urges its teeming members nationwide to completely disregard the so-called illegal and unlawful congresses being promoted by Julius Abure and his associates. 

These illegal exercises have already been declared null and void by a court of competent jurisdiction. As a law-abiding political party, we enjoin all our members to respect and comply with the court’s directive. 

The Labour Party congresses will commence soon, and members will be duly informed once the details are finalised.

In the same vein, the Labour Party calls on the Inspector-General of Police, who is the 6th Defendant/Respondent in the matter, to ensure the arrest and prosecution of anyone organising or participating in any purported Labour Party congresses scheduled for 2nd, 4th, or 6th December, 2025 or on any other dates, except such activities are duly authorised by the legitimate leadership of the Party headed by Senator Nenadi Usman.

Furthermore, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who is the 7th Defendant/Respondent, being a responsible and law-abiding institution, is advised to dissociate itself from this illegality being orchestrated by individuals determined to tarnish the hard-earned reputation of the Commission. 

In line with the Electoral Act and all relevant laws, the Labour Party (LP) will formally notify INEC of its authentic activities once its timetable for congresses and convention is released.

Ife Salako

Interim National Publicity Secretary

Labour Party (LP)

1st December, 2025

BREAKING NEWS: A High Court In Abia State Restrained INEC From Recognizing Barr Julius Abure Nor Monitoring His Purported Congresses

A High Court of Abia State of Nigeria on Monday Restrained the Nigeria's Electoral umpire the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) from recognizing Barr Julius Abure nor monitoring his purported congresses slated for 2nd, 4th and 6th of December, 2025.

Barrister Julius Abuse and Alhaj Lamidi Apapa against the Supreme Court ruling, for their selfish gains are working with the Presidency to ensure the distablisation of the major opposition political party in the country, Labour Party.

Victory For Democracy Against Trampling on the Supreme Court Judgement of 4th April 2025 in Suit No: SC/CV/56/2025 & LP NEC Resolutions of 18th July 2025 and the Federal High Court Judgement of 15th August 2025

 

COMMUNIQUE: Southwest Labour Party Leaders Back Senator Nenadi Usman Led National Working Committee

call on the Political Commissions of the NLC and TUC to urgently rescue the Party from political  impostors

Nenadi 

The labour party leadership in the Southwest have thrown their weight behind the Supreme Court recognized Senator Nenadi Usman Led National Working Committee of the party in Nigeria.

The South West Leaders in a Communique to the Nenadi led Leadership on Wednesday dissociated itself from the illegal Communique circulated on behalf of the sacked former National Chairman of the party Julius Abure, reaffirmed the Senator Nenadi Usman led National Working Committee as the sole authentic leadership of the Labour Party in Nigeria.

FULL COMMUNIQUE BELOW;

 COMMUNIQUE OF THE MEETING OF SOUTHWEST STAKEHOLDERS OF THE LABOUR PARTY (LP).

Sequel to the online meeting of the Labour

Party Leaders and Stakeholders of the South West Zone on 26th November, 2025, which centered on the State of the Labour Party in Nigeria and the South West:

The group dissociated itself from the illegal Communique circulated on behalf of the sacked former Chairman Julius Abure, on social media platforms as the South West position on Labour Party issues.

The Stakeholders having critically assessed the state of affairs of the Party in the country and in each state of the South West especially from 2023 to date agreed as follows:

1. Reaffirmed the Senator Nenadi Usman led National Working Committee as the sole authentic leadership of the Labour Party in Nigeria.

2. Urged INEC to do the needful by obeying the Supreme Court Judgement and officially recognizing the Nenadi Usman led National Working Committee of the Party.

3. Requested the Senator Nenadi Usman led National Working Committee to live up to expectations by immediately organizing all Party structures in the States, Local Governments, Wards and Polling Units in preparation for Congress and our National Convention.

4. Formally recognized the victimisation faced by many party Loyalists in the South West as a consequence of the so called Abure and Apapa group closely working with the APC/Tinubu Presidency hell bent on their mission to destabilize the party as a means of cashing out from their pay masters.

5. Finally South West Stakeholders called on the Political Commissions of the NLC and TUC to urgently rescue the Party from political jobbers and opportunists like Julius Abure and his fellow impostors.

Signed

Southwest Labour Party Leaders

PRESS RELEASE - RE: FAKE COMMUNIQUE FROM IMPOSTORS; A SUPREME COURT-MANDATED INTERIM EXECUTIVE IS IN CHARGE OF THE LABOUR PARTY

Date: November 26, 2025

The attention of the authentic leadership and membership of the Labour Party (LP) in the South-West Geo-Political Zone has been drawn to a fictitious and misleading communique purportedly issued by a "South-West Chairmen & Secretaries Caucus" on November 21, 2025.

We wish to state categorically that this document is the handiwork of impersonators and suspended members loyal to the sacked former National Chairman, Mr. Julius Abure. This communique is not only null and void but also a brazen act of contempt against the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The general public, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and all stakeholders are hereby urged to disregard this communique in its entirety as it is built on a foundation of falsehood and illegality.

For clarity, we state the following incontrovertible facts, now further reinforced by fresh and comprehensive judicial pronouncements:

1. The Supreme Court Has Spoken Conclusively: The authority of the Senator Nenadi Usman-led Interim National Executive is rooted in the final judgment of the Supreme Court. 

       As confirmed in a recent statement, the latest judgment, August 15, 2025, from the Federal High Court in Abuja, which struck out a suit by Abure's faction for want of jurisdiction, aligns squarely with the earlier decision of the Supreme Court, delivered on 4 April 2025 in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025.

 That landmark ruling "unequivocally nullified all previous recognitions of Abure’s purported leadership of the Labour Party."

2. The Law is Binding on All: Pursuant to Section 287 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the decision of the Supreme Court is binding on all persons and authorities in Nigeria. 

The Abure faction, by continuing to parade itself as a legitimate organ of the party, is in gross violation of this constitutional provision.

3. The Legitimate Authority is Senator Nenadi Usman: 

Following these conclusive judicial pronouncements, the Senator Nenadi Usman-led Interim National Executive remains the only lawful body recognized by law to steer the affairs of the Labour Party. The Federal High Court's recent refusal to entertain the suit by Abure's faction is a clear testament to this reality.

4. The Ikeja Meeting is an Illegitimate Charade: The meeting held in Ikeja, Lagos, was an assembly of individuals acting upon a leadership mandate that has been nullified by the highest court in the land. They lack any legal or moral authority to convene or make decisions in the name of the Labour Party.

Rebuttal of Specific Falsehoods in the Communique:

5. On Congress dates and INEC Notification: The discussions on congresses are not only presumptuous but illegal. Only the legitimate Nenadi Usman-led Interim National Executive, operating under the authority of the Supreme Court's judgment, has the mandate to determine the timeline and modalities for our future party congresses.

6. On Reconciliation with the Apapa Faction: The so-called "unanimous approval" for the re-absorption of Alhaji Lamidi Apapa and Abayomi Arabambi is a fraudulent attempt by one nullified faction to absorb another. It is a meeting of ghosts, whose decisions have no place in the real Labour Party.

 The authentic party structure under Senator Nenadi Usman will determine any genuine reconciliation.

7. On the Proposed Press Conference: The planned press conference in Abeokuta is an attempt to create confusion and mislead the public. We warn media houses and the public not to lend their platforms to these individuals who are acting in defiance of a binding Supreme Court judgment.

Our Stance:

We, the authentic State Chairmen, Secretaries, and Leaders of the Labour Party across Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States, held a meeting this evening, November 26,

2025. We unanimously reaffirmed our total and unflinching support for the Senator Nenadi Usman-led Interim National Executive, whose authority is firmly rooted in the final judgment of the Supreme Court.

We are committed to working with this legitimate leadership to reposition the Labour Party, ensure true internal democracy and galvanize our members for the upcoming electoral cycles. The South-West Zone is united, law-abiding, and will not allow political buccaneers to destabilize our great party or hold the sanctity of the Judiciary in contempt.

Signed:

Comrade Kika Glasgow (Acting Publicity Secretary, South-West Zone)

OBIORA IFOH, CLEMENT OJUKWU & OTHER NDIGBOS AGAINST PETER OBI'S PRESIDENTIAL BID: IMPLICATIONS TODAY & FUTURE"

PRE-RESIGNATION REFLECTIONS 001

OPEN REPLY TO OBIORA IFOH'S CLAIM LP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, PUBLICITY SECRETARY NOT PARTY MEMBERS

By Prince Tony Akeni, (Interim Labour Party National Publicity Secretary)

HIGHLIGHT

"For several years before 2010, the Labour Party chapter of Delta state was abolished by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party's then national chairman, Chief (Barr.) Dan Nwanyanwu and late Alhaji A.A. Salaam, then National Secretary. The national leadership stated that this was because of rogue sellout of elections to the PDP dynasty of the Delta governors at the time, James Ibori and later Emmanuel Uduaghan. After entreaties to me by a delegation led by Emeka Nkwaola of Asaba textile union, I led remnants of the party in Delta state to Abuja to the National Chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, to unproscribe the Delta state chapter."

"The meeting which began with awkward, high octave hostility ended with roaring success after my intense presentation of a case for Delta LP's restoration.

"After my presentation and resolution of the mission, I, in that same occasion, presented to the National Chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, and his NEC a written proposal for the establishment of a "Labour University" by the Labour Party and its NLC founding institution for Nigeria's workers and underprivileged Nigerians in general. Chief Nwanyanwu enthusiastically received the proposal with the opening words: "Ideas rule the world." ...If the LU concept had been followed through by the Labour Party and the NLC, Labour University would have celebrated more than its 10th anniversary by this year.

"Beyond the successful restoration of the Delta state LP chapter by Chief Nwanyanwu's NEC, in order to expand the nationwide membership base of Labour Party at the time, I developed a membership recruitment scheme to boost the size and personality roll-call of the Labour Party in Delta state in particular and Nigeria in general. This culminated in my leading personality recruitment engagements and delegations to frontline Delta personalities such as Prof. Pat Utomi in Lagos, Barr. Victor Odebala of Sapele, the late veteran labour leader Chief Frank Kokori, also in Lagos, and other non-Deltans who included Cross River state former governor, Mr. Donald Duke.*

"At that time (in 2010), over fifteen years ago to the day, Julius Abure, Obiora Ifoh's master and saviour of his political universe, was a blurred mere dot in the circle of Labour Party affairs, to borrow Muhammadu Buhari's phrase; an unknown background shadow working as a postal clerk in NIPOST, Edo state, while somewhere in the west Arabambi was roaming in the wilderness of nowhere. Neither of the two was anywhere near the pedestal of my already region-wide influence ambit, much less national activity status in the Labour Party.

"Given the above, if these creatures, Obiora Ifoh and Abayomi Arabambi, were well brought up growing up, they would lie lizard flat on their bellies to greet me in obeisance wherever they meet me. Not interrogate my membership of the Labour Party. Unfortunately, it is apparent they were not.

"While many Nigerians who are not Igbos are dying for Obi's cause, fellow Ndigbo themselves such as Obiorah Ifoh, Clement Ojukwu, Joe Igbokwe, Minister David Umahi, Governor Charles Soludo, Governor Emmanuel Mbah, former governor Orji Uzor Kalu, the loquacious and delirious National Assembly Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Prisoner Ike Ekweremadu, similar doppelgangers or evil twins of the Igbo nation and sections of stomach infrastructure Ohaneze leadership have been going about like drunken sailors in a beach party recklessly endorsing Tinubu for 2027.

"With opium abandon, they have, both overtly and covertly, set out to reduce the extraordinary generational gem Nigerians of all tribes have found in the person of Peter Obi from "Obi Nwanne of Africa" to "PO of Agulu village," in the same manner their political ancestors cornered, narrowed and minimized Azikiwe from Zik of Africa to Owelle of Onitsha.

"Peter Obi's last best chance and the South-East's next best shot for a long time at the Presidency of Nigeria is 2027. If in 2027 Igbo nation allowed these Igbo political lice succeed to wreck Peter Obi's presidency bid while other Nigerians who are not Igbo are laying down their lives for a Peter Obi Igbo Presidency, let no Igbo person anywhere under the sun, elite or commoner, say Nigerians do not love the Igbos. It will be more correct, almost forever after, to say that Igbos do not love themselves. From 2027, it will officially become a universal maxim, signed and sealed by the Igbos themselves, that the Igbos love what is in their individual pocket and stomach more than their collective posterity and future."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Tony 

1.  I read with profound sympathy for Igbo nation and Peter Obi, in particular, the recent bad air from one Obiora Ifoh in his reaction to a private memo addressed to the Sen. Nenadi Usman led National Executive Council (NEC) and Board of Trustees of the Labour Party, which, unfortunately, leaked and found its way to the Nigeria public a few days ago through the Vanguard and Punch newspapers of October 17 and '18 respectively, amongst others.

2.  To begin, let me dismiss with despatch Obiora's misleading claim in the above referred Punch newspaper wherein he alleged that Labour Party's national chairman, Sen. Nenadi Usman, is not a member of the party because, according to Obiora, Sen. Nenadi is not in the membership register of Abure's dead NEC of the party. A rebel band which Nigeria's highest court, the Supreme Court, comprehensively sacked on April 4, 2025. 

3.  Mr. Obiora Ifoh and one Abayomi Arabambi, another political rodent in the Julius Abure colony of felony which specializes in candidate fraud, documents forgery, grand thefts and perjury, jointly share the same title of "National Publicity Secretary" in the Supreme Court sacked defunct Julius Abure council of the party; a crass misnomer against Labour Party's constitution.

4.  Together, these two creatures constitute the ugliest, ethically depraved noise drums in the political space of contemporary Nigeria. 

5.  First, why should any Labour Party member be found in the register of a council declared dead and buried by a terminal judgment of the highest court in the land? 

6.  Secondly, all courts of Nigeria, from the lowest to the apex court, scrutinized, certified and satisfied themselves of Sen. Nenadi Usman's membership of the Labour Party, hence she was recognized as having locus standi on behalf of the party in all suits she filed against the Abure swarm, all of which she won without exception, eternally annulling and obliterating Abure's impersonating group from existence.  

7.  Next, let's look up Comrade Tony Akeni's membership of the Labour Party and his leadership status in the party. He was also declared by Obiora as one not in their dead council's membership register.

8.  For several years before 2010, the Labour Party chapter of Delta state was proscribed by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the party's then national chairman, Chief (Barr.) Dan Nwanyanwu and late Alhaji A.A. Salaam, then National Secretary. The Nwanyanwu NEC held that the shutting down of the party in Delta was because of rogue sellout of elections to the PDP dynasty of then Governor James Ibori and later Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

9.  On June 12, 2010, remnant stakeholders of the disbanded Delta state LP led a delegation to me (Tony Akeni) in Benin as a Labour Party stalwart of the South-South states who was recommended to them for my reach across the party. The Delta LP delegation, led by Mr. Emeka Nkwaola of the Asaba textile union and comprising one Mr. Emmanuel Emuakpodje, Pastor Tracy Agol and others, had come to entreat me to lead them to Chief Dan Nwanyanwu to plead a case for lifting the suspension of the Delta state Labour Party chapter in order to enable them participate in elections in Delta state. 

10.  This later came to include the Delta state governorship re-run election of February 6, 2011, after Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, who was the Chief Judge of the Appeal Court Benin, in a seismic judgment that shook the country, sacked Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for electoral transgressions in the 2007 governorship election of Delta state. Justice Monica is presently the President of the Appeal Court of Nigeria, Abuja.

11.  On June 12, 2010, I was in a June 12 celebration podium at the centre of a sea of music fiesta crowds at Museum Ground, King's Square, Ring Road, Benin City, with Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, performing musicians Majek Fashek and Orits Wiliki, Apostle Comrade Paul Oyarenua and other dignitaries when the Emeka Nkwaola delegation from Delta state entreated me to a side canopy to explain their predicaments and entreaty to approach National Chairman Chief Dan Nwanyanwu to unproscribe Delta Labour Party. 

12.  I was a co-coordinator of the June 12 rally in my capacity as Director of Mobilization of Nigerians United for Democracy (NUD), whose national leader was legal luminary Femi Falana (now SAN). Dr. Obayuwana was our state leader of the NUD, while Apostle Comrade Paul Oyarenua was our Edo state chapter chairman.

13.  Arriving Abuja the following week, the late Alhaji A.A. Salaam, then the national secretary of Labour Party, received my delegation and heralded us to the front of Chief Dan Nwanyanwu. The meeting which started with awkward, high octave hostility ended with roaring success after my intense presentation of a case for Delta LP's restoration. 

14.  After my presentation and resolution of the mission, I, in that same occasion, presented to National Chairman Chief Dan Nwanyanwu and his NEC a written proposal for the establishment of a "Labour University" by the Labour Party and its NLC founding institution. 

15.  Chief Nwanyanwu enthusiastically received the proposal with the opening words: "Ideas rule the world." He went on to narrate that while he was a struggling young man fresh out of school and used to travel by "luxurious buses" from the east to Lagos, he experienced how an entire jumbo bus would be stopped by pressed passengers to stop in the middle of nowhere, and passengers would run into the bush to relieve themselves. 

16.  Nwanyanwu said he afterwards at some forums suggested that toilet compartments should be built into luxurious buses. He narrated that a few years later, to his pleasant surprise, the first set of luxurious buses fitted with toilet closets arrived Nigeria. He concluded that my idea of a "Labour University for less privileged Nigeria workers and Nigerians in general" could see the light of day some day just like his closet idea in luxurious buses.

17.  After the Abuja delegation, Emeka Nkwaola of Imo state became the Delta state chairman of Labour Party, Emmanuel Emuakpodje of Kokori town, Delta Central, the state secretary, Emmanuel Amalokwe of Obiarukwu, Delta North, the organizing secretary and I, from Isoko nation, Delta South, the Delta state Labour Party publicity secretary, amongst others. Chief Dan Nwanyanwu and other persons mentioned above except A.A. Salaam and Majek Fashek are still alive to confirm this report. 

18.  Beyond the successful restoration of the Delta state LP chapter by Chief Nwanyanwu's NEC, in order to expand the nationwide membership base of Labour Party at the time, I developed a membership recruitment scheme to boost the size and personality roll-call of the Labour Party in Delta state in particular and Nigeria in general. This culminated in my leading personality recruitment engagements and delegations to frontline Delta personalities such as Prof. Pat Utomi in Lagos, Barr. Victor Odebala of Sapele, the late veteran labour leader Chief Frank Kokori, also in Lagos, and other non-Deltans who included Cross River state former governor, Mr. Donald Duke, in his office at Victoria Island, Lagos.

19.  Earlier, when Prof. Pat Utomi visited my kingdom of Ozoro in 2007 with his ADC presidential campaign train and was received in the home of 2nd Republic deputy Speaker of defunct Bendel State and 3rd Republic Senator, late Sen. Francis "Spanner" Okpozo, I, being a double-barrel prince of the kingdom, was by Sen. Okpozo's side to receive and hear Utomi on behalf of our palace political elite.

20.  Earlier in 2006 when the brilliant late Sen. Pius Ewherido, a former deputy Speaker of Delta state, came to Ozoro kingdom with his campaign entourage to sell his Delta governorship aspiration and Sen. Okpozo also received him on behalf of our kingdom, I was also delegated to receive him as observer on behalf of Ewherido's friends and associates of Ozoro kingdom. Pius attended Notre Dame College (NDC) Ozoro as a kid and had many friends and well-wishers in our kingdom. We were looking to convert him to the Labour Party if PDP missed him as their candidate.

21.  In the 2010 meeting with Chief Kokori in his home in Lagos, he addressed us on a wide range of issues from my entreaty of him to join the Labour Party as a veteran labour doyen, his arrest, torture and gulag travails during the June 12 struggle under tyrant Abacha to Chief Great Ogboru's contest-and-run-away perpetual governorship syndrome. You could feel intimately all over the war-tested labour veteran a traffic of exhaustion from moral betrayals and the agony of a loving one-woman man as he pointed upstairs over our heads, where he nursed his cherished wife who, he told us, had been bedridden for years. Chief Kokori concluded that day, "I don't have the energy to do this anymore. But maybe, for one last time because of your delegation, I will think over it." 

22.  That one last time made us to see him again, thin and bone weary, in Chief Ogboru's re-run governorship rally at Ughelli in 2011. He died a dozen years later on December 7, 2023 at the age of 80.

23.  Except late Chief Frank Kokori, Sen. Francis Okpozo and Sen. Pius Ewherido, all the persons mentioned above, fortunately, are alive. Go and verify, as Peter Obi would say.

24.  In 2010, over fifteen years ago to the day, Julius Abure, Obiora Ifoh's master and saviour of his political universe, was a blurred mere dot in the circle of Labour Party affairs, to borrow Muhammadu Buhari's phrase; an unknown background shadow working as a postal clerk in NIPOST, Edo state, while loitering somewhere in the west Arabambi was in the wilderness of nowhere. Neither was anywhere near the pedestal of my already region-wide influence ambit, much less national activity status in the Labour Party.

25.  Quite ahead of me in LP affairs then were the irrepressible Veteran Comrade Lawson Osagie. Side by side Pa Victor Aguebor, Pa Irowa, Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor (Ultimate Equals) and Pa Gabano, I held the Labour Party media trumpet in the background during the years of Adams Oshiomhole as governor of Edo state. 

26.  I was among the backroom influencers of the party when we organized and coordinated the Edo state Labour Party congress at Gabano Hotel, near Uniben, which brought Bishop Samuel Omede to office as Edo state LP chairman. Afterwards, from the dim backyards of his NIPOST employment Julius Abure clawed, scrambled and spidered his way into the spot of state secretary in Bishop Omede's state council of the Labour Party.

27.  Given the above, if these creatures, Obiora Ifoh and Abayomi Arabambi, were well brought up growing up, they would lie lizard flat on their bellies to greet me in obeisance wherever they meet me. Not interrogate my membership of the Labour Party. Unfortunately, it is apparent they were not.

*Hold Up. Stand Up for Peter Obi*

28.  About 20years ago, I read the editorial of a Tanzanian newspaper that shook me to my bones from the acid contempt, even hate, with which many African nations see Nigeria and our country's internal politics.

29.  It stated that Nigeria was one of the most absurd countries in the world where its citizens reduce their best to their lowest worst. Citing the life and times of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to exemplify the point, the Tanzanian newspaper said Nigeria had achieved the unbelievable feat of reducing the great Nnamdi Azikiwe from "Zik of Africa to Owelle of Onitsha."

30.  Together, African countries and the rest of the world are watching again. How, while many Nigerians who are not Igbos are dying for Obi's cause, while fellow Ndigbo themselves such as Obiorah Ifoh, Clement Ojukwu, Joe Igbokwe, Minister David Umahi, Governor Charles Soludo, Governor Emmanuel Mbah, former governor Orji Uzor Kalu, the loquacious and delirious National Assembly Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, Prisoner Ike Ekweremadu, similar doppelgangers or evil twins of the Igbo nation and sections of stomach infrastructure Ohaneze leadership have been going about like drunken sailors in a beach party recklessly endorsing Tinubu for 2027. 

31.  With opium abandon, some like Obiorah Ifoh, Clement Ojukwu and Benjamin Kalu have, both overtly and covertly, set out to reduce the extraordinary generational gem Nigerians of all tribes have found in the person of Peter Obi from "Obi Nwanne of Africa" to "PO of Agulu village," in the same manner their political ancestors cornered, narrowed and minimized Azikiwe from Zik of Africa to Owelle of Onitsha.

32.  Great Nigerians like Femi Falana, Dele Farotimi, David Hundeyin (South-West), Yunusa Tanko, Haruna Goro, Nana Kazaure (North), Deacon Chris Iyovwaye, Smart Madu Ajaja, Aisha Yesufu, Magnus Oraka, Peter Akah (Niger Delta South-South), Reginald Nnorom, Precious Oruche "Mama Pee" (South-East) and many others have erased crooked old boundaries in Nigeria's political topography to prove that Nigeria can be one huge, united country and Africa's democratic powerhouse.

33.  Peter Obi's last best chance and the South-East's next best chance for a long time at the Presidency of Nigeria is 2027. If in 2027 Igbo nation allowed Igbo political lice succeed to wreck Peter Obi's presidency bid while other Nigerians who are not Igbo are laying down their lives for a Peter Obi Igbo Presidency, let no Igbo person anywhere under the sun, elite or commoner, say Nigerians do not love the Igbos. It will be more correct, almost forever after, to say that Igbos do not love themselves. From 2027, it will officially become a universal maxim, signed and sealed by the Igbos themselves, that the Igbos love what is in their individual pocket and stomach more than their collective posterity and future.

34.  In our time, we must reject the poison of these Ndigbo wolves against Peter Obi's person and presidential project. We must reject the Tanzanian curse and stand up for Peter Obi in 2027, provided he stands up for himself by filtering out and disbanding his choristers of misleading praise singers, and rising above sycophancy indulgence to pillar his cause with genuine trench soldiers who tell him the truth that will lead to his victory.

35.  Peter Obi and our Labour Party NEC must rise with a sense of urgency to launch confidence building agenda of actions and activities that will encourage and strengthen our party's remaining few loyal elected members of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly across the country. No effort should be spared to inspire them to remain true to the PO 2027 presidency project.

36.  In case Peter Obi and the Sen. Nenadi council are not adequately aware, currently these brave steadfast loyalists of our party are like forlorn IDP orphans in the National Assembly and various State Houses of Assembly. 

37.  They tip-toe about their daily activities within the National Assembly and State Assembly complexes to survive daily pressures on them to defect to the ruling APC and other ruling parties in various states. 

38.  They are under constant psychological onslaught of Tinubu's conquest storms under Senate President Godswill Akpabio's and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas' brinkmanship; an ancient Roman triumvirate determined to ensure Tinubu's wholesale state capture of Nigeria into a one-party banana pseudo-democracy. The time for all true Labour Party faithfuls to rally round them is now before it's too late.

God bless and keep us all, as many as will continue to stand tall by the truth and refuse to bow to Nigeria's god of cash-out corruption and political cash crops of compromised politics.

*Tony Akeni Le Moin*

Labour Party National Publicity Secretary (Interim)

PRESS RELEASE: INEC MUST RESPECT COURT JUDGEMENTS ON LABOUR PARTY (LP) LEADERSHIP

The Labour Party has noted, with deep concern, reports that the erstwhile National Chairman of the Party, Barr. Julius Abure, attended the quarterly consultative meeting between the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and leaders of political parties held on Tuesday, 14th October 2025.

While this brazen act of impersonation may appear comical to some, it is, in truth, a tragic reflection of the extent to which certain elements within INEC are willing to compromise the integrity of the Commission by lending themselves to such ignoble conduct in utter defiance of valid and subsisting court judgements, including that of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

For the avoidance of doubt, on 4th April 2025, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025, delivered a unanimous landmark judgement unequivocally declaring that Barr. Julius Abure was no longer the National Chairman of the Labour Party. This pronouncement was further reinforced by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1523/2025, delivered on 15th August 2025, which expressly rejected Julius Abure's prayers based on the earlier judgement of the apex court that held that he was no longer the national chairman of the Labour Party.

It is instructive to note that in the said latter suit, INEC itself deposed to a counter affidavit dated 13th August 2025, affirming under oath that Julius Abure was no longer the National Chairman of the Labour Party.

Against this background, therefore, the Labour Party views the conduct of certain rogue elements within INEC who permitted Abure’s attendance at the meeting as not only reprehensible but also a deliberate affront to the authority of our courts. INEC cannot, in one breath, depose under oath that Abure is no longer chairman, and in another, accord him recognition. Such conduct amounts to contempt of court and a grave desecration of the sanctity of our judicial system, particularly the pronouncements of the Supreme Court.

Even the former INEC leadership, despite its alleged partisanship and meddlesomeness, demonstrated better respect for the rule of law. On 29th July 2024, INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu ordered Barr. Julius Abure out of its consultative meeting with political party leaders, on the clear grounds that he was no longer the National Chairman of the Labour Party. That decision came even before the Supreme Court and Federal High Court judgements that have since laid the matter to rest.

The question, therefore, is: from where did the present actors within INEC derive the authority to override and overrule these court pronouncements and enable Abure’s participation in today’s meeting? This reckless display of impunity is unacceptable and must be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians.

While the current INEC leadership may be transitional, it must remember that even a brief tenure can leave a lasting stain on history. Every action taken today will be judged tomorrow. Posterity records everything.

The Labour Party therefore calls on INEC to immediately enforce the valid judgements of our courts regarding the leadership of the Party. If the current leadership lacks the courage to uphold the rule of law, it should at least refrain from further tarnishing what remains of the Commission’s credibility before its eventual exit.

Signed:

Ken Eluma Asogwa

Senior Special Adviser, Media, to the Interim National Chairman, Labour Party, Senator Nenadi E. Usman.

14th October, 202

POINT-BLANK: NEW INEC CHAIRMAN PROF. AMUPITAN — A REDEEMER OR ANOTHER HOPE BETRAYED, TIME WILL TELL - LABOUR PARTY

By Prince Tony Akeni



"Labour Party, in particular, will forever remember Prof. Mahmood Yakubu's pretentious cooperation in matters of justice in political parties' internal leadership affairs. While pretending to follow due process in enabling Labour Party to resolve its Julius Abure led tenure rebellion, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood in another hand, in unashamed treachery, actually connived to betray justice for the party to the last minute of his exit. Prof Mahmood deliberately retained the name of the Supreme Court sacked Abure on INEC website as the party's national chairman, clinically sabotaged the Labour Party from participating in crucial elections throughout the country by unlawfully delisting the party from fielding candidates in the 2025 local government elections of various states, the Abuja municipal council elections coming up in 2026 and all other tiers of election across the country to the end of his tenure...

"As many Nigerians who are not yet under the collective hypnotism of APC's baptism of delusion *WILL ASK* , what rationale, except the opium of corruption harvest, made Prof. Yakubu Mahmood to retain on INEC's portal the defunct Julius Abure led leadership of Labour Party in spite of having the certified judgment of the Supreme Court and its corroborating interpretation of the Abuja Federal High Court, both of which unequivocally ruled that the Julius Abure leadership of the Labour Party had irreversibly ended?


"That is the Prof. Yakubu Mahmood the Labour Party and 230million Nigerians remember, and history centuries away will also remember and wrinkle their noses at his final resting place."

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Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan has a fate larger than life thrust at his feet. To either redeem the largest democracy in Africa or further mutilate and bury its corpse which the ballot master-liar of all time, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, has left behind as INEC chairman.

Above the pecks, glamour and glitter of the highly visible office which Prof. Amupitan now occupies, he must choose what he wishes to achieve and be remembered for.

He must choose who he will serve and the legacy he wishes to leave behind for his name and posterity.

He must choose whether to be honoured by more than 230million Nigerians who employed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu or to serve the unconstitutional wishes and caprices of a single man, Tinubu, who appointed him.


To help him make that choice, Prof. Amupitan will do well to reflect how more than 230million Nigerians at home and all over the world will forever remember his immediate predecessor, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood.


Under the Obasanjo years, when Nigerians' thought Prof. Maurice Iwu, the INEC chairman at the time, was the worst electoral referee that happened to Nigeria, Prof. Attahiru Jega happened to Nigeria and erased that record. This was to the extent that one Elder Godsday Orubebe, who was the Minister of Niger Delta in the Jonathan administration of the time, screamed blue murder and embarked on a one-man rampage against INEC at the 2015 presidential election collation centre in front of the world press and international election observers.


At the close of that era when Nigerians' thought that it was impossible to manufacture a worse election overseer than Jega, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood came to mortally mar the mood and seal the hopes of Nigerians that elections could ever be free, fair or credible in our country, destroying the last vestige of Nigeria's electoral integrity almost to the point of no redemption.


Before Mahmood's tenures as INEC chairman, Nigerians merely lamented if their votes would count but with some reservoir of hope. However, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood buried that hope and made it a proverb of despair set in concrete, creating an endemic voter apathy throughout Nigeria that has no comparison in any other country in Africa and almost the whole world.


In the run-up to the epic 2023 general elections, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood promised Nigerians and the world in countless media briefings that ballot results would be transmitted in real-time from the polling units and entered from BIVAS records to the IREV servers for global integrity.


Mahmood promised this would be a process that shall not be compromised, violated or accepted by INEC, only to brazenly take the opposite stand against his sworn process by dismissing BIVAS results as non-compulsory in the collation of election results. He and his returning electoral commissioners across the country then uploaded insanely mutilated and duplicated result sheets supplied by the ruling party to announce the 2023 results, stood by those mutilations at the post-election tribunals, and returned the snatch-and-run-with-it concoctions of the presidential election, numerous governorship and countless National and State Assembly results as winners against the actual landslide presidential victory of the Labour Party and similar victory by other opposition political parties at different tiers of the polls.


As his last achievement for the ruling APC, at the end of which President Tinubu gave him a parting send-off with the national award of Commander of the Order of the Niger, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood also successfully pulled off a historic pre-election heist to make rigging easier for the ruling party in 2027 by manufacturing out-of-the-world phantom records of new voters registration in President Tinubu's home state of Osun.


Mahmood awarded a record 393,269 new voters in Osun state alone against just 1,998 new voters in the entire five South-East states combined. Nearly half a million new voters in the single state of Osun which has a population of 4.6million citizens, and less than 2,000 new voters in all the five states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo which command over 36million citizens!


Labour Party, in particular, will forever remember Prof. Mahmood Yakubu's pretentious cooperation in matters of justice in political parties' internal leadership affairs. While pretending to follow due process in enabling Labour Party to resolve its Julius Abure led tenure rebellion, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood in another hand, in unashamed treachery, actually connived to betray justice for the party to the last minute of his exit. Prof Mahmood deliberately retained the name of the Supreme Court sacked Abure on INEC website as the party's national chairman, clinically sabotaged the Labour Party from participating in crucial elections throughout the country by unlawfully delisting the party from fielding candidates in the 2025 local government elections of various states, the Abuja municipal council elections coming up in 2026 and all other tiers of election across the country to the end of his tenure. Mission accomplished, national award received, evil done and dusted, APC's 2027 victory guaranteed! So they think.


As many Nigerians who are not yet under the collective hypnotism of APC's baptism of delusion, what rationale, except the opium of corruption harvest, made Prof. Yakubu Mahmood to retain on INEC's portal the defunct Julius Abure led leadership of Labour Party in spite of having the certified judgment of the Supreme Court and its corroborating interpretation of the Abuja Federal High Court, both of which unequivocally ruled that the Julius Abure leadership of the Labour Party had irreversibly ended?


That is the Prof. Yakubu Mahmood the Labour Party and 230million Nigerians remember, and history centuries away will also remember and wrinkle their noses at his final resting place.


For the Labour Party, the first all-important litmus test that the new INEC chairman, Prof. Joash Ojo Amupitan, will pass to prove that he has come to serve Nigeria in ernest of his oath of office is to remove the last dust and trace of Julius Abure and his defunct council members from INEC's portal and replace them with the Nenadi Usman led council which the statutory NEC of the party has submitted as its executive council. This will be in accord with the Supreme Court's judgment that the leadership of political parties is strictly the result of the internal decision and processes of parties. This also complies with both Nigeria's and global conventions which forbid leadership vacuum in the management of public institutions.


As Prof. Joash Amupitan steps into the shoes of his departed predecessor, he must realize that he is not only on the radar of Nigerians but the entire civilize world, the West and emerging democracies of the world which look unto Nigeria for good or bad examples.



Amupitan must prove to the world that he is not another election puppet out to serve the dictates of incumbents and ballot vampires for his personal enrichment at the expense of Nigeria's international image, global respect, progress and advancement, like most of his predecessors, but a true electoral umpire out to serve and save our country's long troubled democracy.



What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Nothing but eternal condemnation. Both the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran agree on this at Mark 8:36 and Q57:20 respectively.



Joash Amupitan, get off the gory road of power vapour and walk the glory road of eternity's favour.




Prince Tony Akeni,

Labour Party National

Publicity Secretary (Interim)