LABOUR PARTY (LP) RESPONSE TO ABURE’S ADDRESS
The attention of the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party has been drawn to a misleading Address read by Barr. Julius Abure, the erstwhile National Chairman of the Party to his purported National Executive Council of the Party (NEC) on 7 April, 2025. In the said Address, Barr. Julius Abure strenuously sought to offer his own interpretation of the effect of the Judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on 6th April, 2025 on the issue of the leadership of the Party. Still wearing the toga of “the stewards of the Labour Party”, he set out, from a misconceived position, to “offer clarity and reaffirm our collective resolve to uphold the sanctity of our Constitution, the unity of our structures, and the integrity of our leadership”.
Now, before responding to the specific issues raised by Barr. Julius Abure in his said Address, it is important to state that the Address is replete with falsehoods, misrepresentation and distortion of cold facts on record.
Perhaps, the starting point is to appreciate the issues and claims that gave role to the said Judgment of the Supreme Court. Following the expiration of the tenure of Barr. Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Party, the NEC of the Party met in April 2023 and granted him a one-year extension which expired in June, 2023. Thereafter, the Stakeholders/NEC of the Party met and appointed a National Caretaker Committee (NCC) to manage the affairs of the Party pending the Party’s National Convention to elect its new leaders. Miffed by this development, Barr. Julius Abure purported to conduct a fresh National Convention of the Party on March 27, 2024 at Nnewi, Anambra State, wherein he was purportedly elected as the National Chairman of the Party.
It is significant to note that INEC refused to recognize the National Convention conducted by Abure and his purported election thereat, as the process was fraught with manifest irregularities.
Now, in his desperate bid to validate his tenure and override INEC’s decision refusing to recognize him as the National Chairman of Labour Party, Barr. Julius Abure filed the present Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024 against INEC alone, seeking to assert, in the main, that INEC was bound to accept the list of Candidates submitted for the past Ondo State general elections under his leadership. That was Relief 5 which they surreptitiously inserted as an appendage in the Originating Summons they filed before the Supreme Court.
It is also important to note that by a Motion on Notice, the members of the NCC of the Party led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and the National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Party and Hon. Darlington Nwokocha as the National Caretaker Committee Secretary applied to be joined as Co-Defendants in the Suit. They also filed a Counter Affidavit before the Federal High Court stating that Barr. Julius Abure’s tenure had expired and they were (the NCC) the duly constituted National Caretaker Committee entitled to run the affairs of the Party pending its duly organized National Convention. Significantly, the NCC was joined as Co-Defendant in the Suit and Barr. Julius Abure did not file any Further Affidavit denying the NCC’s defence in their Counter Affidavit.
Surprisingly, the Federal High Court delivered its Judgment and granted the Reliefs claimed by Julius Abure to the effect that he was the National Chairman of the Party entitled to submit list of candidates to INEC. In the resulting appeal to the Court of Appeal, the NCC of Labour Party argued that since Relief No. 5 in the Originating Summons was the main relief as it sought to declare the leadership of Barr. Julius Abure as valid, the trial Federal High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain Barr. Julius Abure’s claims/case at all.
Surprisingly, in its Judgment, the Court of Appeal agreed with the Party’s NCC that Relief No. 5 seeking to declare Abure as the National Chairman of the Party was the main Relief; and being a leadership dispute of a Political Party, the trial Federal High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the case. However, despite finding that the trial Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the case, the Court of Appeal went outside its jurisdiction and relied on its earlier Judgment in Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024 LABOUR PARTY v. OLUSOLA EBISENI & ORS delivered on 13/11/2024, to hold that Barr. Abure had been admitted as the National Chairman of the Party and that the Judgment is still subsisting.
Dissatisfied with that aspect of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal which relied on its previous decision in Ebiseni’s case to declare Abure as the National Chairman of the Party, the Party’s NEC further appealed to the Supreme Court.
By the clear terms of its Judgment delivered on 6/4/2025, the Supreme court set aside the Judgments of both the trial Court and the Court of Appeal that had declared Barr. Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Party.
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SPECIFIC RESPONSE
In view of the above facts which are verifiable from the records of the Courts, it is clear that the decision of the Supreme Court which Barr. Julius Abure and his co-travellers rely on to the effect that the leadership of a Political Party is within the internal affairs of the Party, was made in the context of the decision of the Supreme Court that Barr. Julius Abure was wrongly pronounced as the National Chairman of the Party by the two lower Courts. The implication of the setting aside of the decision of the two lower Courts is that the decision of the Party which appointed the NCC stands and ought not to have been interfered with by the Courts – as the Political Party has the exclusive/prerogative right to determine its leadership.
Secondly, it can be seen that all the arguments being made by Barr. Julius Abure in his Address under reference, are all arguments which he addressed before the Supreme Court, and which the Supreme Court duly considered in its Judgment and dismissed. It is well-known that the decision of the Supreme court on any issue is final and forever; and no amount of lexical alchemy or legal sophistry can override the decisions of the Supreme Court under the laws of our land.
Lastly, on the impression now being conveyed by Barr. Julius Abure and his co-travellers that the “Apex Court DID not set aside the decision of the Court below in Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024 BTW LABOUR PARTY VS. CHIEF EBISENI & 2 ORS decided on 13/11/2024”, it is either they do not appreciate the issues that went up to the Supreme Court, or they are pretending not to so as to mislead the general public and Party members.
Contrary to their representation, it does not require the aid of a lawyer or a microscope to see that Issue No. 2 which was submitted by learned Counsel to the Party’s NCC before the Supreme Court for determination was:
“Whether the decision/ratio decidendi in Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CV/1172/2024 LABOUR PARTY V. OLUSOLA EBISENI & ORS determined the subject of leadership (National Chairman) of Labour Party as erroneously affirmed by the Court below in its Judgment in the instant appeal.”
It is also not open to argument that in its Judgment delivered on 6/4/2025, the Supreme Court resolved all the 3 issues formulated by the Appellants (the NCC) in their Brief in the Appellants’ favour, including Issue No. 2 reproduced above. It follows by necessary implication that by allowing and resolving Issue No. 2 above in favour of the Party’s NCC, the Supreme Court, effectively, determined that the EBISENI case did not determine the subject of the leadership of the Party’s (National Chairman) to warrant or justify the reliance placed on that decision by the Court of Appeal in the present case.
Without further ado, the effect of the setting aside of the Judgments of the two lower Courts by the Supreme Court is that the Judgments recognizing/pronouncing Barr. Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Party no longer exist. Contrary to the misrepresentation in their Address, the issue of the expiration of the tenure of Barr. Julius Abure was properly before the Supreme Court, and the Supreme court concluded its Judgment by addressing Barr Julius Abure to be humble enough to leave when his tenure has expired.
In the light of the above clarifications, we continue to advise our teaming supporter to await the release of the Certified True Copy of the full texts of the Judgment of the Supreme Court. Only then will all the falsehoods and misrepresentation be buried for the common good of the Party.
SENATOR DARLINGTON NWOKOCHA
Secretary, National Caretaker Committee
