Time for Abure to Court Obi, Otti, Others

In order to continue to provide formidable alternative political platform for Nigerians, the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, should court the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi; Governor of Abia State, Mr Alex Otti; lawmakers, leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, and other critical stakeholders of the party so that they won’t defect to another party, Ejiofor Alike reports

The recent victory of the embattled National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Julius Abure at the Court of Appeal has reconfirmed the belief among a section of the political class that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) contributed largely to the current leadership crisis in the party by refusing to recognise the party’s National Convention held in Nnewi, Anambra State, on March 27, 2024 where Abure was re-elected for a fresh tenure.

However, Abure had held the party’s Nnewi convention without the support of the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi; the Governor of Abia State, Mr. Alex Otti, leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other critical stakeholders, who shunned the event.

The opposition of these stakeholders to the convention was strengthened by a letter from INEC, to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Steve Adehi, saying that it did not monitor the convention.

The commission’s letter was believed to be a clear de-recognition of the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

INEC had declared that the tenure of the Abure-led executives had expired since June 2024.

Though Abure fought back, and dragged the commission to court through a suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/1271/2024, Obi, Otti and other critical stakeholders moved against him.

The expanded stakeholders’ meeting of the LP summoned by Otti in Umuahia, on September 4, 2024, sacked Abure-led NWC and replaced it with a 29-member caretaker committee.

Obi and Otti, had in a letter to the INEC chairman dated September 6, 2024, cited the “de-recognition of the Abure-led NWC by INEC effective June 2024,” as one of the reasons for the setting up of a 29-member committee headed by a former Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman.

But in a dramatic twist, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in the Abuja, in a judgment delivered on October 8, 2024, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/ CS/1271/2024, ordered INEC to accord the LP under Abure’s leadership all the rights and privileges of a political party duly registered in Nigeria.

The LP caretaker committee proceeded to the Appeal Court, but they lost again to Abure.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, in a judgment delivered on Friday, January 17, 2025, by Justice Hamma Barka, upheld its earlier judgment of November 13, 2024, which recognised Abure as National Chairman. 

The court stated that it did not address the issue of the party’s leadership, as such matters are not justiciable and struck out Justice Nwite’s judgment, saying that any action taken outside of jurisdiction is null and void.

However, it reaffirmed its previous judgment of November 13, 2024, which declared that “Abure remains National Chairman of the Labour Party.”

With the two judgments in his favour, Abure’s final hurdle is the Supreme Court.

However, his mere victory at the courts won’t restore the confidence of the critical stakeholders in him.

 Abure’s statement in September 2024 withdrawing automatic tickets for Obi and Otti in the 2027 elections should not have been made by a leadership that was committed to reconciliation in a crisis-ridden party.

Due to the strength demonstrated by the party in the 2023 general election, which was attributed to Obi’s popularity, the party had reserved automatic tickets for Obi and Otti in the 2027 general election.

But speaking after the party’s NEC meeting in Abuja on September 9, 2024, Abure said all the party’s tickets would be thrown open for all members in 2027.

He said: “NEC-in-session also reviewed the decision of the National Convention to reserve its presidential and governorship tickets for Peter Gregory Obi and Alex Otti, respectively.

“Consequently, all party tickets from the presidency to the state Houses of Assembly are open to all qualified Nigerians,” he added.

Reacting, the Director General of the LP Presidential Campaign Council in the 2023 elections, Akin Osuntokun, while featuring as a guest on ARISE News Channel, said Abure’s decision to make a U-turn a few weeks after his pronouncement showed he had an ulterior motive.

He also raised concerns that the party cannot afford to have a southern national chairman when the presidential candidate is also from the South.

“If you stage a convention in which the principal stakeholders stay away and INEC is still not in a position to give the approved authority, it is clear. Look, this tendency of sit-tight syndrome is what is principally wrong with Africa.

“Potentially, Obi is likely to be the candidate of the party in the next election. He is from the South-east. So, by the logic of Nigeria’s power politics, the chairman of the party should not come from the South,” he explained.

There are also allegations that some high-profile persons in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government are secretly heavily funding the leadership of the Labour Party like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to destabilise it ahead of the 2027 elections.

This is why a chieftain of the party in Abia State, Mr. Nwabueze Onwuneme has also urged Abure to let the wishes of the majority of the party prevail by relinquishing the leadership of the party to the caretaker committee.

Onwuneme also advised Abure not to bask in the Appeal Court’s judgment as it does not reflect the true wishes of the majority members of the party.

He reminded Abure that Otti and Obi are the heart and soul of the party that made the party popular today.

Onwuneme warned that the people of Abia State whom Otti has greatly changed their quality of life by his high-flying performance might be left with no choice than to prevail on the governor to leave the party in order not to play into the hands of the people trying to weaken the party’s chances in 2027.

According to him, the LP with Obi and Otti, are highly sought-after and loved by the Nigerian masses.

He also reminded Abure that without the advent of Otti and Obi, the party would have been deregistered for failure to have any elected official.

It is evident that Abure’s victory at the courts cannot restore the confidence of stakeholders in him.

The adverse effect of the loss of confidence in Abure’s leadership manifested in Abia State where LP members defected to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) where they contested and won the chairmanship and councillorship seats in the recent local government elections in the state.

What he needs is genuine reconciliation, seeking forgiveness, and not settling scores with those who fought his leadership by withdrawing their automatic tickets.

Without genuine reconciliations and concessions on his part, LP will go into extinction if Obi, Otti, leaders of NLC and most of the critical stakeholders leave the party.

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