The leadership tussle within the Labour Party, LP, took a new twist on Wednesday, with Lamidi Apapa asserting himself as the party’s National Chairman.
Apapa, who made the declaration at a press conference in Abuja, cited the April 4 Supreme Court judgment that nullified Julius Abure’s leadership as the reason for his emergence as LP’s National Chairman.
Apapa said: “Following the decision of the Supreme Court on setting aside all judgements that recognise the leadership of Julius Abure as National Chairman, I, ALH BASHIRU LAMIDI APAPA, the most senior deputy national, and in consonance with our party constitution, Article 14 2(a)(b), hereby take over the running of the affairs of our great party with effect from today, Wednesday, the 9th day of April 2025, in an acting capacity, and Alh Farouk Umar Ibrahim as National Secretary.”
Supreme Court judgment on Abure
A five-man panel of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment, had set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which recognised Abure as LP’s National Chairman.
It stressed that the matters relating to party leadership are internal affairs, over which the judiciary has no jurisdiction, adding that based on the submissions before it, Abure’s tenure had already expired.
Before the apex court’s ruling, LP’s National Executive Committee, NEC, had met in Abia State, during which Abure was removed.
The party constituted a 29-member caretaker committee, with former finance minister, Esther Nenadi Usman, a former senator as chairman and Darlington Nwokocha as secretary to fill the vacuum. This position has been re-affirmed by the group led by LP’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi and Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.
Controversy trails Supreme Court judgement
The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiorah Ifoh said the Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court’s judgment vindicated Abure-led leadership.
Ifoh maintained that the CTC never said the leadership of the Abure-led executive has elapsed or that Nenadi Usman and her National Caretaker Committee has been directed to take over the leadership of the party.
A statement by Ifoh said: “The leadership of the Labour Party ably led by Barrister Julius Abure has been vindicated by the content of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgement between Nenadi Usman and the Labour Party.
