Supreme Court Judgement: LP Commends verdict, says Abure not sacked
By Tom Okpe
The Labour Party, LP, has commended judgment of the Supreme Court for validating its earlier position that political matters are internal affairs of the Party, so. Should be handled within, saying that the judgement did not sack the National Chairman of the Party, Julius Abure.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Party Obiora Ifoh made the clarification at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, after the Court judgement in the case brought against the Party.
Ifoh, who explained that the apex Court’s verdict has been largely misrepresented in the media, however, stated that Abure remains the Party substantive National Chairman.
“The apex court, in its decision, emphasised that matters relating to Party leadership are internal affairs, over which the judiciary has no jurisdiction over.”
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He said: The supreme court judgment did not sack the LP National Chairman, Abure, rather, it rightly upheld the preceding and accumulated high courts and appeal court judgments, upholding the immutability of the responsibility of the Party to choose its leaders.
“The judgement did not also set aside the Appeal Court judgement in Labour Party vs Ebiseni and 2 others, CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024, delivered on 13 November 2024, which affirmed Abure as the National Chairman of the Party. The judgement is still valid and subsisting and has not been appealed.
“The implication is very clear. Abure remains the Labour Party National Chairman. The question is: Who are the leaders of the Party; the Party constitution is clear as to who the leaders of the Party are. The leadership of the Party has been the National Working Committee led by Abure,” he stated.
Also speaking, Legal Adviser of the Party, Kehinde Edun, insisted that the Lower Courts should have declined jurisdiction and shouldn’t have made pronouncement on the leadership of a political Party. It therefore struck out Senator Nenadi Usman’s appeal at the Appeal Court and the Labour Party suit at the trial court.
He said: “The supreme Court’s judgment didn’t sack LP National Chairman, Abure rather, it rightly upheld the preceding and accumulated high courts and appeal court judgments, upholding the immutability of responsibility of the Party structures to choose its leaders.
“The Party constitution is also clear on who has the power to call for the National convention or any National meeting.
“Article 14 of the 2024 constitution, as amended, give powers to the National Secretary of the Party, to issue notices of meetings of the National Convention, National Executive Councils, NEC, the National Working Committee, NWC, in consultation with and approval of the National Chairman.”
He further noted that the National Convention of the Party was called by the leadership, on the 27 of March 2024 where leaders of the Party emerged. The report of the National Convention is already with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Therefore, the celebration by some persons that the leadership of Abure has been sacked were only trying to be mischievous and misleading.
“The leadership of the Party is satisfied with the judgement of the apex court which goes to reaffirm Abure as the National Chairman of the Party and the current NWC, as validly elected, having been duly nominated, endorsed, and ratified through the internal mechanism of the Party statutory organs in line with its constitution.
“We therefore, call on all true members of the Party to abide by judgement of the apex Court, and always resort to internal Party mechanism, in resolving Party affairs and not to always rush to the Court.
“It is only the political Parties that have the powers to choose its leaders not the courts. Everybody must learn to respect the decisions of the Party and its Constitution,” he added.
