Appeal court affirms Julius Abure as LP’s National Chairman

By Jude Opara

The Court of Appeal has affirmed Julius Abure the Labour Party, (LP), National Chairman.

A notification on the Labour Party’s X handle on social media read, ”Barr Julius Abure remains the LP National Chairman, Appeal Court Rules”

A quick call to the Publicity Secretary of the Party, Obiora Ifoh confirmed the development.

The judgment stems from the appeals filed by the Labour Party’s caretaker committee, led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, and and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The latest judgement comes after a Federal High Court had earlier ruled that Abure is the rightful leader of the party.

But as a reaction to the judgment, the party’s caretaker committee dragged Abure to the Appeal Court.

While ruling on the matter yesterday a three-member panel of the appellate court in a judgement delivered by Justice Hamma Barka held that Abure is the recognized national chairman of the Labour Party.

According to the Court, its judgement of November 13, 2024, which earlier recognized Abure as the National Chairman subsists and has not been set aside by any court.

However, the appellate court held that it did not delve into the issue of the leadership of the Labour Party because such issues are not justiciable.

The court maintained that anything that is done outside jurisdiction amounts to a nullity. Hence the judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on October 8, 2024 by Justice Emeka Nwite is of no effect because it was delivered without jurisdiction.

“We cannot say this appeal fails or succeed because the lower court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the first place”, Barka held.

While striking out the suit for want of jurisdiction, he held that the appellate relied on its previous judgement of November 13 last year to hold that “Abure Remains National Chairman of the Labour Party”.