The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise former Minister of Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, as the lawful leader of the Labour Party (LP).
Delivering judgment, Justice Peter Lifu relied on the April 4, 2025 verdict of the Supreme Court to affirm Usman’s leadership and consequently removed Julius Abure as the party’s National Chairman.
The court directed INEC to immediately recognise the Nenadi Usman–led National Caretaker Committee as the only valid authority representing the Labour Party, pending the conduct of a national convention.
The ruling followed a suit filed by Usman, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, in which Abure and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) were listed as defendants.
Justice Lifu held that evidence before the court clearly showed that Abure’s tenure as National Chairman had expired, stressing that the party could not be left without leadership.
Rejecting Abure’s argument that the dispute was an internal party matter and therefore non-justiciable, the judge ruled that the constitution of a caretaker committee was a direct necessity arising from the Supreme Court’s decision.
According to the court, all the reliefs sought by Usman were resolved in her favour, adding that any contrary decision would amount to judicial rascality and insubordination, as the apex court’s ruling was binding.
Justice Lifu therefore affirmed the removal of Abure and ordered INEC to recognise the Usman-led National Caretaker Committee as the lawful leadership of the Labour Party.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had earlier resolved to remove Abure following a prolonged leadership crisis.
To address the vacuum, the party constituted a 29-member caretaker committee with Usman as chairman. The decision was reached at an expanded stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, and hosted by Governor Alex Otti.
The meeting was chaired by Abure’s former ally and the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi.
In an affidavit supporting his earlier suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, Abure claimed he was lawfully elected Acting National Chairman after the death of the party’s former chairman at a NEC meeting in Benin City on March 29, 2021.
He further stated that a NEC meeting held in Asaba on April 18, 2023, and monitored by INEC, renewed the tenures of state chairmen, expelled some members for alleged anti-party activities, and appointed replacements.
Abure also claimed he was elected National Chairman at the party’s national convention held on March 27, 2024, in Nnewi, Anambra State.
However, while both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal had earlier ruled in his favour, those judgments were overturned by the Supreme Court, which nullified the concurrent decisions and paved the way for Wednesday’s ruling.