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Julius Abure, chairman of the national faction of the Labor Party, has again set the stage for continuing the struggle over who leads the Labor Party.
Abure on Tuesday vowed to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal decision confirming Nenadi Usman’s leadership.
Abure, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja, rejected the decision of the appeals court, insisting that the decision was contrary to the party’s established legal principles and procedures.
He argued that the party leadership issue was still an internal matter that was beyond the scope of judicial intervention, and added that the court’s decision was not in line with existing legal precedent.
“We have seen what happened today at the Court of Appeal, and we want to say clearly that the decision is unacceptable to all of us in the Labor Party, led by my humble self.
“I want to say very clearly that the decision goes against all known principles of law. The courts, the Supreme Court and all courts in Nigeria have stated very clearly that the issue of leadership of a political party is an internal matter of a political party.
“That is also not true, and I do not agree if someone says that this executive’s term of office has ended. That is not true and we cannot accept it,” he said.
Earlier, a three-member panel at the Court of Appeal in Abuja unanimously rejected Abure’s appeal, describing it as unconvincing and without legal merit.
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The court upheld an earlier Federal High Court decision, which affirmed Usman’s leadership.
Abure assessed that the party convention in Nnewi on March 27, 2024 resulted in a legitimate leadership that is expected to last for four years.
According to him, the court failed to properly consider this matter in drawing conclusions.
He said, “I would like to say that the court today did not take that into account before concluding that the term of office had expired. “I must also say clearly that the Umuahia meeting, which resulted in the Caretaker Committee, is also contrary to the constitution of the Labor Party.
“Only the National Chairman and Secretaries of political parties have the power to convene any NEC meeting. Let me state clearly that we will appeal the decision.
“Today’s decision of the Court of Appeals is unacceptable to us, and we reject it in its entirety. We have assembled our legal team, and we will appeal and appeal to the Supreme Court.”
