The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday removed Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise the Senator Esther Nenadi Usman-led caretaker leadership of the party.
In a judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, the court relied on the April 4, 2025 decision of the Supreme Court to affirm Usman, a former Minister of Finance, as the authentic leader of the party pending the conduct of a national convention.
Justice Lifu consequently directed INEC to immediately accord recognition to the Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee as the only lawful authority empowered to act on behalf of the Labour Party.
The ruling arose from a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, instituted by Usman, with Abure and the Nigeria Labour Congress listed among the defendants.
The court held that materials placed before it showed that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had expired, dismissing his argument that the dispute was an internal party affair beyond judicial scrutiny.
According to the judge, the constitution of a caretaker committee became inevitable following the intervention of the Supreme Court, which had earlier faulted Abure’s continued stay in office.
The leadership crisis in the party had prompted its National Executive Committee to remove Abure and set up a 29-member caretaker committee chaired by Usman during an expanded stakeholders’ meeting convened in Umuahia, Abia State, by Governor Alex Otti.
The meeting, which ratified Abure’s removal, was presided over by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who was once his ally.
Abure had challenged his removal at the Federal High Court, insisting that he was duly elected and later re-elected at the party’s national convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, in March 2024.
While the high court and the Court of Appeal initially ruled in his favour and ordered INEC to recognise him, the Supreme Court overturned those decisions, upheld the appeal filed by Usman and the committee’s secretary, Darlington Nwokocha, and urged political parties to adhere strictly to their constitutions and respect tenure limits.