On Friday, the Supreme Court five-man panel, in a unanimous judgment, sacked Julius Abure as National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).
ENigeria News reports that a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the LP, having earlier found that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
It held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.
The apex further sustained the appeal filed by Nenadi Usman, a former senator representing Kaduna South, and one other and held that it was meritorious.
Thus, the apex court proceeded to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure faction of the LP for lacking merit.
However, in a statement released by Obiora Ifoh, the Labour Party’s National Publicity Secretary, moments ago, the statement maintained that Julius Abure remains the party’s authentic Chairman.
ENigeria News reports that while reacting via the party’s official handle on X, the statements read, “The Supreme Court strikes out Nenadi and Abure suits, saying only political parties can determine who their leaders are. It also said that the courts shouldn’t dabble in the affairs of the political parties. Dr. Julius Abure is still the National Chairman of the Labour Party.”
The confusion surrounding the now controversial Supreme Court judgment may eventually be subject to interpretation by legal experts.