LP crisis: Court returns Abure as Labour Party national chairman

On Thursday, Julius Abure, the national chairman of the Labour Party, and the other three members of the national executive announced that they would be returning to the party secretariat.

The change comes one month after Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal High Court in Abuja forbade them from posing as national party officers.

The judge decided that Abure, Alhaji Farouk Ibrahim, Clement Ojukwu, and one other person should no longer be recognized as party executives.

The injunction was obtained in an ex-parte application filed by James Ogwu Onoja SAN, who told the court that the concerned national officials are suspected of forging multiple FCT High Court documents to conduct illegal substitutions in the just-concluded 2023 general election.

He alleged that the party officials utilized such documents, such as invoices, seals, and court affidavits, to carry out illegal actions.

Speaking to reporters at a global press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Abure said that, as a result of a motion for stay at the Court of Appeal, all suspended national executive members have officially returned to the secretariat.

The LP national leader further reaffirmed that, contrary to rumors spreading, the party has no faction.

After filing an appeal and serving the judge with a plea for a stay, he declared, “My colleagues and I have now fully accepted our constitutional duties as National Officers of the party.

“It is now essential that I speak at this press conference to correctly put the legal concerns involving the party’s leadership in appropriate perspective. It is pertinent to state categorically that Labour Party has no faction. It is run by the National Working Committee, which I, Barrister Julius Abure, am the chairman of.”

As he went on, Abure bemoaned how the Lamidi Apapa-led group broke into the party secretariat while ostensibly working in accordance with a restraining order purportedly issued by the FCT High Court.

He added that out of desperation, the disappointed party members did not have the patience to wait for the decision of the final judgment before taking the drastic step of designating themselves as National Officers of the Party.