The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday removed Julius Abure from office as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to acknowledge the Senator Esther Nenadi Usman-led caretaker leadership of the party.
Delivering judgment, Justice Peter Lifu anchored the decision on the April 4, 2025 ruling of the Supreme Court, which he said had settled the leadership dispute in favour of Usman, a former Minister of Finance, pending the party’s next national convention.
The judge consequently ordered INEC to immediately recognise the Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee as the legitimate authority authorised to act for and on behalf of the Labour Party.
The decision followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, filed by Usman, in which Abure and the Nigeria Labour Congress were joined as defendants.
Justice Lifu held that documents and evidence before the court clearly showed that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had expired, rejecting his claim that the matter was purely an internal party issue not open to judicial intervention.
According to the court, the establishment of a caretaker committee became unavoidable after the Supreme Court invalidated earlier rulings that had favoured Abure’s continued stay in office.
The crisis within the party had earlier led its National Executive Committee to remove Abure and constitute a 29-member caretaker committee headed by Usman during an expanded stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, and hosted by Governor Alex Otti.
That meeting, which endorsed Abure’s removal, was chaired by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Abure had approached the court to challenge the decision, insisting that he was lawfully elected and later reaffirmed as national chairman at the party’s national convention held in Nnewi, Anambra State, in March 2024.
Although the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal initially ruled in his favour and ordered INEC to recognise him, the Supreme Court later overturned the judgments, upheld the appeal filed by Usman and the caretaker committee’s secretary, Darlington Nwokocha, and cautioned political parties to respect their constitutions and tenure limits.