The 29-member caretaker committee established by Abia State Governor Alex Otti and Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, announced on Sunday its intention to escalate the leadership dispute involving the party’s embattled National Chairman, Julius Abure, to the Supreme Court.
This was revealed in a statement jointly signed by the committee’s National Chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, and National Secretary, Darlington Nwokocha, in Abuja.
The committee expressed dissatisfaction with the recent ruling of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which upheld the party’s March 2024 national convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, and confirmed Abure as the legitimate National Chairman of the Labour Party.
But the LP caretaker committee contended that the appellate court judgment had raised issues that the Supreme Court would have to decide.
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It stated, “The Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party is going to seek further clarification from the Supreme Court on the leadership dispute in the party. Senator Nenadi Esther Usman, the Chairman of the Committee, confirmed this fact at the weekend to clear the ambiguities in the ruling of the appeal court.
“The November 13, 2024, and January 17, 2025 rulings of the Court of Appeal have brought up issues that only the Supreme Court can clarify, and the Caretaker Committee has instructed their lawyer accordingly. We, therefore, instructed their supporters across the country to be patient.
In the Friday judgment affirming Abure’s leadership, a three-member panel, led by Justice Hamma Barka, upheld the October 8, judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, to grant the LP under Abure’s leadership, all the rights and privileges accorded a political party duly registered in the country.
The appellate court said it found no reason to dislodge the judgment that was delivered in Abure’s favour by Justice Emeka Nwite.
It will be recalled that following a leadership crisis that rocked the LP, the National Executive Committee, 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 ex-minister Nenadi Usman, as Chairman and Darlington Nwokocha as Secretary.
The decision was the outcome of an expanded stakeholders’ meeting of the party that was hosted in Umuahia by Governor Otti and chaired by Obi.
Punch
