By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, ABUJA
The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday upheld the judgment sacking Mr. Julius Abure as National Chairman of Labour Party, LP.
Read Also: Nenadi Usman affirmed as LP chair as Appeal Court dismisses Abure’s suit
In addition to dismissing the appeal, the court ordered Abure to pay N10 million in costs for wasting its time.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, the appellate court found no reason to disturb the Federal High Court’s judgment of January 21, which recognized former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, as the party’s valid leader.
The court described Abure’s appeal as a gross abuse of judicial process.
It noted that he had engaged in forum shopping by filing multiple actions in hopes of securing a favourable verdict.
The court held that the Labour Party leadership issue had been conclusively resolved by the Supreme Court on April 4, 2025.
That ruling nullified the convention purporting to elect Abure as national chairman.
The appellate court further held that the high court had acted within its jurisdiction in directing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to recognize Senator Nenadi-Usman’s caretaker committee.
It stressed that the caretaker committee had been validly constituted to fill a leadership vacuum in the party.
The panel was led by Justice Oyejoju Oyewunmi.
Justices A. B. Mohammed and Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike concurred that the appeal lacked merit.
Recall that Justice Peter Lifu of the High Court, in his judgment, relied on the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in the Labour Party’s leadership dispute.
He directed INEC to recognize the Senator Nenadi-Usman-led Caretaker Committee as “the only valid authority to represent the Labour Party,” pending a national convention.
The judgment followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, filed by the former minister.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, was also joined as a defendant, alongside Abure. Justice Lifu held that evidence showed Abure’s tenure as LP national chairman had elapsed.
He rejected Abure’s claim that the matter was a non-justiciable internal party affair, ruling that the Nenadi-Usman-led committee was a “necessity” arising from the Supreme Court’s order.
The High Court had held that INEC was bound by the ratification/inauguration of the plaintiff (Senator Nenadi-Usman) as the National Caretaker Committee Chairman of Labour Party by a communique dated July 18, 2025, for the purpose of carrying out executive functions in line with Articles 13 & 14, of the Labour Party Constitution, 2024, pending the holding of the Labour Party congresses and its National Convention.
Consequently, it issued an order “directing, mandating and/or compelling the 1st Defendant (INEC), its Chairman, Commissioners, Officers, Employees, Assigns and Agents to recognise, receive and treat all correspondence emanating from the plaintiff as the National Caretaker Committee Chairman as the only valid authority to represent the Labour Party pending the holding of congresses and convocation of a convention to elect a new national executive committee of the party.
“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the 1st Defendant, its Chairman, Commissioners, Officers, Employees, Assigns and Agents or whatsoever or howsoever called or referred to from recognizing any other person or group of persons other than the Plaintiff as the National Caretaker Committee Chairman of Labour Party as well as her committee members for the purpose of carrying out executive functions of the party pending the National Convention of the party wherein substantive executives will be elected in line with the Constitution of the party, the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”
The National Executive Committee, NEC, of the LP had in the heat of a leadership crisis that rocked the party, resolved to remove Abure as the national chairman.
It constituted a 29-member caretaker committee, chaired by former Finance Minister, Nenadi-Usman to pilot affairs of the party.
The decision emerged from an expanded stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, hosted by Abia State Governor, Alex Otti and chaired by Mr. Peter Obi, Abure’s former ally and the party’s 2023 presidential candidate. Dissatisfied with the decision, Abure approached the court to validate his position as the national chairman of the party.
Article Appeal Court orders Abure to pay N10m fine for abuse of judicial process Live On NgGossips.
