By Abiola Olawale
Julius Abure, the factional National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has dismissed claims that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) no longer recognizes him as the party’s leader.
In a statement issued on Saturday by Obiora Ifoh, the National Publicity Secretary of Abure’s faction, he accused the opposing Senator Nenadi Usman-led EXCO of allegedly misinterpreting a recent court ruling to push a false narrative.
The controversy stems from INEC’s counter-affidavit in a Federal High Court case (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1523/2025), where the commission stated that Abure’s tenure, along with that of the National Executive Committee, expired in June 2024.
INEC further declared that it did not monitor or recognize the Labour Party’s March 27, 2024, National Convention in Nnewi, where Abure claimed re-election, citing violations of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022, and the LP’s constitution.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had dismissed Abure’s suit against INEC on August 15, 2025, for lack of jurisdiction, aligning with a Supreme Court ruling on April 4, 2025, which deemed leadership disputes as internal party matters.
However, Abure’s faction argued that the Usman-led EXCO is deliberately misrepresenting the court’s decision to undermine his leadership.
Ifoh said: “For the records, two cases concerning the Labour Party were decided and dismissed yesterday by the same court.
“One by Nenadi Usman through one Chris Omofuma, her purported candidate in the Edo by-election, and of course, the one filed by Labour Party through Barrister Julius Abure.
“INEC was the respondent in all the matters. While INEC for obvious reasons refused to put up any counter against Nenadi’s camp, it however, deposed to a counter affidavit in opposition to Abure’s suit, on the premise that it neither monitored nor recognised the March 27, 2024, convention in Nnewi, and that Abure’s tenure, along with that of the National Executive Committee, according to their illusions, expired in June 2024.
“The court wasted no time in dismissing the suit by Ms Nenadi Usman through Chris Omofume on the ground that both Nenadi Usman and Darlington Nwokocha were not National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, of the party and therefore are not competent to nominate a candidate for the bye-election.
“The court also, while dismissing the suit by Abure and Labour Party, held that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter, noting that the Supreme Court had, in its April 4, 2025, decision in Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025, ruled on the supremacy of the party and its ability to resolve its internal affairs using the party’s internal mechanism.
“In any event, the Supreme Court never said that Abure was not the National Chairman of the Labour Party nor made a pronouncement on the Convention. It only said that issues of leadership are internal affairs of the party. It is also clear that the Abure leadership is the party here and that is what the apex court referred to. Disappointed by the judgment of the Court, Nenadi Usman and her power-mongering renegades went to town publishing INEC’s counter-affidavit, which the court never relied on.
“For us, their celebration was laughable and a smokescreen meant to mislead members of the public. They know that they have nothing to celebrate. They forgot so soon that INEC’s so-called counter-affidavit has been tested in various courts, up to the Supreme Court, and has not been accepted.
“The INEC counter affidavit is clearly what the commission has been portraying all through in the courts since the beginning of their unlawful exclusion of our leadership. They tendered it before Justice Omotosho, and it was rejected. INEC also said so in Justice Nwite’s court, and the Judge ruled against them.
“They said so in the Court of Appeal, and the court also ruled against them. Even the Supreme Court ruled against them. All those issues in the counter affidavit have been raised before and have been resolved against INEC. Even the Federal High Court yesterday did not accept their counter-affidavit, the reason being that it refused to grant Nenadi’s request that her candidate be recognized to participate in the bye-election.
“We are also calling on INEC not to ignore the order by His Lordship, Hon Justice Mustapha A. Ramat of the Nasarawa state division delivered on July 23, 2025, in a SUIT NO. NSD/LF.84/2024 in an interlocutory order directing INEC to accord exclusive recognition to Abure and Umar Farouk Ibrahim as the authentic leadership of the Labour Party.”
