Barrister Julius Abure, factional national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has clarified why he still remains leader of the party, news.ng reports.
Abure, in an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday evening, noted that the judgment which Senator Nenadi Usman challenged had already been addressed by the Supreme Court.
According to Abure, making reference to the ruling by the apex court, he stated that the court had ruled that the matter was an internal affair of the party, adding that his leadership has been liaising with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on ways to resolve the issue.
He said, “If there is any interloper in the Labour Party, I think it is Senator Nanadi Usman that is the interloper. In any event, the final court has not taken a decision on the matters of the Labour Party.
“You recall that after the convention that was held in 2024 in Naiwi, the Federal High Court presided over by Justice Wite made a pronouncement that that convention was valid and that INEC should recognize Labour Party leadership under my leadership.
“The matter went to the Court of Appeal, and the Court of Appeal affirmed same. And then Nanadi Usman appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court said it was an eternal affair of the party, and we have been working very closely with INEC after that decision.”
Abure said that following the previous pronouncement by the apex court, the Usman-led leadership reinitiated the matter at the Federal High Court, where they were given judgment.
The Labour Party leadership noted that the judgment has been appealed, expressing hope that the ruling will be in his favour in line with the Electoral Act.
“Until January this year, when Nanadi Usman went back to start re-litigating on the matter all afresh, and the Federal High Court gave them judgement and was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. As it stands today, we have appealed that judgement, and the Electoral Act is clear that for you to bring any matter that has to do with pre-election matters, you must have participated in all the processes leading to the election, to the primaries, nomination of candidates and all what not.
“So, on the basis of all of this and because we are on appeal, and the appeal can go either way to the Supreme Court because we believe very strongly that the Supreme Court will do justice to the matter.
“We do not want to be caught on the web, and that’s why we are participating in all the processes so that whatever decision the Supreme Court takes, then we will not be caught napping,” he explained.
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