The Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party (LP) has said, as the Court of Appeal on Friday affirmed Julius Abure as LP’s National Chairman, it will seek further clarification on the party’s leadership dispute at the Supreme Court.
This was contain in a statement by the National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, and the National Caretaker Committee Secretary, Senator Darlington Nwokocha, said the ruling and that of January 17, 2025 had thrown up issues that only the Supreme Court could clarify.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, the Appeal Court held that its November 2024 decision recognising Abure as the party’s chairman remained valid and had not been overturned by any court.
The statement said the caretaker committee had instructed their lawyer accordingly, as they urged supporters of the party across the country to be patient.
On September 4, 2024, some stakeholders of the party, comprising its 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi; the only governor elected on the party’s platform in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, and other elected and critical stakeholders across the country met in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, and constituted the body to plan an all-inclusive national convention for the party before the Julius Abure-led team went to the court.
The statement said: “It is important to address the erroneous and unsolicited finding by the Court of Appeal that, in a judgment, it delivered on November 13, 2024 in Appeal Number: CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024, Labour Party v. Olusola Ebiseni & Others, Julius Abure was ‘admitted as the National Chairman of the Labour Party’. This finding is completely inconsistent with the substantive judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal.
“For clarity, the judgment delivered on November 13, 2024 in Appeal Number: CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024 pertains to the nomination of a governorship candidate for the Ondo State governorship election. It has no connection whatsoever to the leadership dispute, which the crux of the instant suit was.
“Furthermore, we reiterate the established legal principle in Nigeria that courts lack jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of political parties, including leadership and management issues.”
