There was confusion on Friday following the Supreme Court ruling on the leadership of the Labour Party.
The Julius Abure-led faction, and the Nenadi Usman-led faction of the party claimed that the Supreme Court ruling validated its leadership.
The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which recognised Julius Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party (LP).
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.
The court held that the substance of the case centred on the domestic affair of a political party, which no court has the powers to meddle into.
Consequently, the Supreme Court allowed an appeal that was filed by a former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and Hon. Darlington Nwokocha, who are the chairman and secretary, respectively, of a Caretaker Committee that was earlier appointed to pilot the affairs of the party.
Following a leadership crisis that rocked the LP, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party resolved to remove Abure as the national chairman.
To fill the leadership vacuum, the party constituted a 29-member caretaker committee, with the former Finance Minister, Senator Usman as Chairman and Hon. Nwokocha as Secretary. The decision was sequel to the outcome of an expanded stakeholders’ meeting of the party that was hosted in Umuahia by governor Alex Otti of Abia State. The candidate of the party in the 2023 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, chaired the meeting where Abure was sacked from office.
The Sun Nigeria
