Supreme Court ruling: LP leadership crisis lingers

• We’re in charge –Olorunfemi• No, you’ve overstayed your tenure –DanbakiFrom Sola Ojo, AbujaThe Labour Party in Nigeria is facing a deepening leadership crisis following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, April 4, 2025, which has been interpreted differently by the two main factions vying for control.The court’s decision set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had recognized Julius Abure as the national chairman of the party. googletag.

cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0'); }); The ruling has sparked confusion, with both factions claiming victory.



Deputy National Chairman of the party, Dr. Ayo Olorunfemi, a member of Abure’s faction, insisted that the judgment favoured Abure, who has another tenure to complete by 2027.On the other hand, Elder Yusuf Solomon Danbaki, a chieftain of the party in favour of Senator Nenadi Usman-led faction, argued that the Supreme Court’s decision has effectively ended Abure’s tenure as chairman.

A five-member panel of the apex court said the appellate court lacked the jurisdiction to enter any pronouncement in favour of Abure since it had earlier found that the subject matter of the dispute bordered on the leadership of a political party. $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.

adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); Subsequently, the court held that the substance of the case centred on the domestic affair of a political party, which no court has the power to meddle into, thereby allowing an appeal that was filed by Nenadi Usman.“We are happy with the judgement, but we are disappointed with the interpretation some people having been giving it when the court said it has no jurisdiction to determine the leadership of the party, and the same court is saying Abure’s tenure has expired.

Is it possible? We have our legal adviser who told us what happened.“Nenadi is not the Labour Party. Caretaker Committee is not Labour Party because it is not known to the constitution of the party.

“For now, we have not violated any aspect of the constitution. Those who set aside the constitution of the party and met somewhere have violated the constitution of the party. Those who met in Umuahia in Abia State are unknown to the constitution except Governor Alex Otti and his deputy.

These are the two people who were mentioned in the Constitution as National Executive Council members.“So, the entire NEC members of the party are about 102. Now, how can six people sit somewhere and say they are setting up a caretaker committee, which is unknown to the constitution?“We are going to announce a NEC meeting where we will invite the Abia State Governor and his deputy, the President and Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the President and Secretary of the Trade Union Congress and other NEC members to make a decision on whether to ratify the convention held in Nnewi or otherwise which is what the Supreme Court asked us to do.

$(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).

push({})}); “For the elected lawmakers under the Labour Party, only a few of them who are doing well will be returned. Many of them have not shown capacity, they have not shown responsibility towards the party, and they don’t believe in the ideology of the party.“We are engaging in massive recruitment and as we speak, we have over 250,000 members who are not calling themselves Obidients, preparing for the next election.

We are opening up our positions to anybody who believes in our ideology.“We are not going to allow opportunists this time around. We are not going to deny anyone who wants to come to the party to do so, and at the same time, we are not going to beg people to stay.

We are only going to ask them to use their tongue to count their teeth.“Some of them need to apologize to the party, though not compulsory. This time around, anyone who wants to contest will compete.

If you want to be a leader of the party, go to your ward, go to your local government and your state so people will see what you are doing.“Not that you will sit in Abuja, or because you are close to Peter Obi or you call yourself Obidient and think because of that you have a support group and because you think you have a support group you want to automatically become the leader of the party. It is not done anywhere in the world.

“So we are appealing to everybody, including those who are involved and those who are not directly involved, to come together for the sake of the country to join the NWC, as we have only one tenure left. We want to ensure that we can complete what we started in 2021 in 2027 so that we can have a new Nigeria”, he said. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); Meanwhile, Danbaki, argued that the Abure-led leadership of the party has overstayed in office and, thereby, is not qualified to take any decisions on behalf of the party.

To him, the Supreme Court decision has set aside the decision of the High Court which recognized Abure’s chairmanship.“We are yet to get the certified true copy from the Supreme Court but what we have heard from our lawyer is that the apex court has declared that Abure has overstayed as chairman based on the Labour Party Constitution.“That has set aside the judgement of the high court that recognized Abure as the chairman.

The implication is that we are starting on a new slate.“Let me say this: the Labour Party is one. We appreciate the apex court for doing the right thing.

In this judgement, justice is clearly seen that the court has confirmed what we have been waiting for.“The party is one. We are calling on all members to be calm not minding the fact that we have lost some of our elected members to the opposition.

$(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).

push({})}); “We are calling on them to return to the party because we have gotten rid of Abure so we can move on from here.“It is important to add that we are not saying the judgement affirmed Nenadi as chairman. No.

We are saying the court has confirmed that Abure’s tenure has elapsed. Abure is no longer the chairman.“For now, our joy is that the disease that has plagued the party has been taken care of, and the party will now be healthy once again and that is where we are,” Danbaki said.

On his part, one of the founding members of the party, Professor Pat Utomi, called for the reconstruction of the party after the apex court ruling.Uromi wrote on his verified X handle: As the leadership of the Labour Party looks to reconstruct its house and reconcile all, let me remind stakeholders of the motives that brought then NLC President, Ayuba Wabba and I, with Wale Okuniyi as ground engineer, together, to work a process that produced the Labour surge which powered Peter Obi and the Obidients in 2023.“It was an expression of a desperate need to save Nigeria through rejecting machine politics that just seeks to capture power.

We learnt in 2015 that just capturing power is without any use unless shared values and a collective accountability frame was firmly established ab initio. $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.

adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); “As Ayuba Wabba firmly expressed in his speech at an event marking my birthday on February 6th 2022 we desired to change the course electoral democracy in Nigeria by building political parties as platforms for setting a clear path for national advance. The party we wanted to build should then recruit people of character, competence, compassion, and commitment, who are champions of service to the people; and then form, prune, and align their disposition to entrepreneurial social democratic principles that put people first while seeking rapid economic growth to reduce poverty by creating jobs in a competitive economy with social harmony.

“In the many hours of meetings in Ayuba Wabba’s office at the NLC offices in Abuja which I chaired, I never hid my admiration for Scandinavian free enterprise models in which education and health care were radically socialized, universal and geared to production.Finding people whose ways align to these foundational principles of that third force we set out to build is critical for impact. I urge attention to these details.

”A constitutional lawyer and former national commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Barrister Festus Okoye, noted that the current constitutional provision does not allow courts to determine political parties’ leadership.He said: “Political parties in Nigeria must realize that they are voluntary associations of members and their membership and leadership preferences are within their exclusive domain and no court of law is permitted to interfere in such matters.“The political parties understand this and still want to entangle the courts in their political problems and challenges.

The Supreme Court has been firm, unambiguous, and consistent in asserting that political parties in Nigeria must grow up and run their affairs under their constitutions, rules, and procedures. $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.

adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); “The Supreme Court has told the political parties in no uncertain terms that it will not micromanage any of them or take over the election of their leadership or running of their affairs.“The Courts will not choose leaders for political parties because such issues are purely an internal affair of the political party even if the party is in breach of its constitution or guidelines.

“In this case, the Supreme Court did not rule in favour of any of the parties and it is futile for any of them to claim victory. The Supreme Court simply told the parties to go and resolve their internal domestic affairs within the ambit of their constitution, rules and guidelines.“The remedy for any party that is not satisfied with the finality of the decision of the party is to exit the party.

In other words, the Supreme Court declined jurisdiction and declined to interfere in their internal affair. The parties have their organs and must go back to those organs and resolve their issues”, Okoye said.On the way forward, he said, “The Nigerian Bar Association must interface with political parties and prevent deliberate subversion of the independence of the Courts.

“Forcing internal disputes of parties on the courts will undermine its independence and create a dubious partisan perception of the Courts and this is not good for our democracy.” Okoye added. $(document).

ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({})}); It is expected that in days and weeks to come, the parties involved in the quagmire will eventually find a common ground to give Nigerians a formidable opposition political party ahead of the 2027 elections in Nigeria.

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