Emameh Gabriel in Abuja
The embattled National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, has expressed displeasure over the continued delay by Justice Hamza Muazu’s FCT High Court to act on the matter brought before it by the Apapa’s-led faction of the party.
The embattled National Chairman, Abure, has however declared that he was moving the case to the Court of Appeal after the court yesterday assumed jurisdiction.
Abure spoke yesterday at the party’s national headquarters when he received supporters of Labour Party and civil society groups who paid him a solidarity visit after his appearance at the court.
The LP National Chairman, who was among others restrained by an FCT High Court from acting as national chairman and national officers of the party over allegations brought to it by the Lamidi Apapa-led National Working Committee (NWC), lamented that despite obeying the restraining order of the court, he believed he would get justice at the Appeal Court.
He said: “We have obeyed the court restraining order and by today, the court gave a ruling, assuming jurisdiction. I need to make it abundantly clear that the substantive matter has not started. There was a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the court and the court today assumed jurisdiction. And for me, I am ready to go for an appeal.
“In the next few hours, we will be submitting our notice of appeal to the court and we will move all the matter from that court and take it to the court of Appeal.
“I believe that I will get justice in the Court of Appeal. I believe that Labour Party will get justice in the court of Appeal.”
He explained that the same court in FCT in 2023 in the case of Sulieman vs APC did the same thing and the Law Report decided by the Supreme Court made it very clear that the court has no jurisdiction over such matters.
“That is where we are standing and we believe that whatever the court has said today can’t stand before the Court of Appeal. I believe that the Court of Appeal will do the right thing and therefore all our papers will be filled today and by Monday the appeal will commence.
“And so I want to assure all our supporters, all our members that they should remain calm, I remain the National Chairman of the Labour Party.
“Labour Party is a democratic institution and you don’t use coup d’ tat to grab leadership, you don’t use the back door to take over the leadership of the party. That is what Apapa and co tried to do. Though we understand them because they have been paid by their paymasters, if you look at the statement they made today, they are talking about the tribunal.
“Whatever they say is about the tribunal, and it is no longer news that these disgruntled Labour Party members have been paid to truncate the cases in tribunal. They are only satisfying their paymasters and so we urge all our members to disregard them,” he said.
