Labour Party: Appeal Court dismisses Abure’s case, affirms Nenadi Usman’s leadership

Abure rejects Appeal Court decision, heads to Supreme Court

The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Tuesday, dismissed the case filed by Julius Abure, challenging the legitimacy of the Nenadi Usman-led leadership of the Labour Party (LP).

A three-member panel of the appellate court, in a judgment, unanimously affirmed the Jan 21 judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal high court,  Abuja.

Lifu in his judgment upheld the legitimacy of the 29-member caretaker committee of the LP, led by  Usman.

Justice Lifu had, in the Jan 21 judgment, relied on an April 4, 2025 decision of the Supreme Court which held that Abure’s tenure as the party’s National Chairman had expired.

The appellate court then directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Sen. Usman and others,  members of her committee as the legitimate leaders of the party, to the exclusion of all others.

The lead judgment was delivered by Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi, which  Justices Abba Mohammed and Eberechi Nyesom-Wike agreed with.

The appellate court held that the earlier judgment of Supreme Court conclusively settled the leadership dispute within the LP when it nullified the convention that purportedly returned Abure as National Chairman.

The court further held that the court below had the powers under Section 251 of the Constitution to compel a statutory Federal Government agency to perform its functions when it ordered INEC to recognise Usman as the National Chairman of the Labour Party.

It equally agreed with the trial court that the constitution of the LP’s caretaker committee, headed by Usman, was a doctrine of necessity needed to provide leadership in the party when there appeared to be a vacuum.

The court faulted Abure’s claims that he was denied fair hearing by the trial court and accused him of engaging in the abuse of court process.

The court also accused Abure of engaging in forum shopping,  by going before a Nasarawa state high court over a case that was already decided by the Supreme Court.

Also, and for persisting in laying claim to the leadership of the party inspite of the clear and unambiguous pronouncement of the apex court.

It held that the appeal, marked: CA/ABJ/CV/255/2026 was devoid of merit and constituted an abuse of court process.

“On the whole, I agree with the decision and conclusion of the trial court as same, been in accordance with the Constitution”,

Justice Oyewumi held and added that, the lower court has arrived at a reasonable conclusion which cannot be faulted by the Court of Appeal.

The Court dismissed the appeal, and  awarded a cost of N10 million against him for wasting the time of the court on an issue that had already been conclusively determined.

Earlier, the court held that, Usman, as a juristic person had the right to file the case before the trial court.

In addition, that the trial court held that it had the jurisdiction to hear and determine the case.

Meanwhile, the leadership crisis in the Labour Party may persist as Julius Abure has rejected the Court of Appeal judgment delivered on Tuesday, which dismissed his appeal challenging the leadership of Senator Nenadi Usman.

In a reaction contained in a statement, Abure described the judgment as unacceptable and contrary to established legal principles.

He also disagreed with the court’s finding that the tenure of the National Working Committee he led had expired, insisting that the party’s national convention held in Nnewi in 2024 remains valid.

Abure stated that he has instructed his legal team to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the Court of Appeal.

 “We have seen what transpired today at the Appeal Court and we want to say very clearly that the judgement is not acceptable to all of us in the Labour Party led by my humble self.

“I want to say very clearly that the judgement is against all known principles of law. The courts, the Supreme Court and all courts in Nigeria have stated very clearly that the issues of leadership of a political party is an internal affair of a political party.

“It is also not true and I disagree when people say that the tenure of this executive has expired. That is untrue and very unacceptable to us. Nigerians will recall that on the 27th of March 2024, we had a valid convention that was held in Nnewi and that convention is still valid and subsisting for four years. I want to say that the court today didn’t look at that before arriving at the conclusion that the tenure has expired.

“I must also say clearly that the Umuahia meeting which produced the Caretaker Committee was also against the Labour Party constitution. It is only the National Chairman and National Secretary of a political party who has the power to convene any NEC meeting of any sort.

 “I want to say very clearly that we are going to appeal that decision. Today’s decision of the Appeal Court is not acceptable to us and we reject it in its entirety. We have put our legal team together and we are going to file an appeal and move to the Supreme Court,” the statement read.