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."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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)

BOAT MISHAPE IN NIGER STATE: LP Chair Nenadi Calls For More Robust Legislations, Stricter Regulation For Inland Waterways

Sen. Nenadi Usman 

The interim National Chairman of the Labour Party in Nigeria Senator Nenadi Usman has called on the relevant authorities to urgently consider more robust legislations and stricter regulation for inland waterways in the country .

According to the Usman, the recurrent boat mishaps in Nigeria, particularly in Niger State, where such tragedies have become very frequent  demand an immediate and decisive action.

The lastest incident occurred at the Malale riverfront in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. 

The ill-fated boat, carrying about 90 passengers, departed Tugan Sule in Shagunu Ward, Borgu LGA, en route to Dugga for a condolence visit when the tragedy struck. 

 Initial reports put the death toll at about 29, but has now, regrettably, risen to nearly 60 lives lost. 

"It is deeply unfortunate and heart-wrenching that people on a journey to sympathize with others became victims of a calamity themselves."

"This is one tragedy too many, and the frequency with which we record such mishaps on our inland waterways should be a matter of grave concern to all Nigerians."

"On behalf of the entire Labour Party family, I extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, the government and people of Niger State, and indeed all Nigerians, on this national tragedy." Nenadi concluded.

FULL STATEMENT:

*Re: "From the Desk of Senator Nenadi E. Usman, PhD*

PRESS STATEMENT

It is with a heavy heart that I received the tragic news of the recent boat mishap in Niger State, where initial reports put the death toll at about 29, but has now, regrettably, risen to nearly 60 lives lost. This is one tragedy too many, and the frequency with which we record such mishaps on our inland waterways should be a matter of grave concern to all Nigerians.

According to the information at my disposal, the incident occurred at the Malale riverfront in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. The ill-fated boat, carrying about 90 passengers, departed Tugan Sule in Shagunu Ward, Borgu LGA, en route to Dugga for a condolence visit when the tragedy struck. It is deeply unfortunate and heart-wrenching that people on a journey to sympathize with others became victims of a calamity themselves.

I, therefore, use this moment to call on the relevant authorities to urgently consider more robust legislations and stricter regulation of our inland waterways. The recurrent boat mishaps in Nigeria - particularly in Niger State, where such tragedies have become very frequent - demand immediate and decisive action.

On behalf of the entire Labour Party family, I extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, the government and people of Niger State, and indeed all Nigerians, on this national tragedy.

*Senator Nenadi E. Usman, Ph.D* 

Interim National Chairman, Labour Party. 

4th September, 2025"