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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has recognised the Labour Party (LP) National Working Committee (NWC) led by Nenadi Usman
INEC indicated that the move followed a court order mandating the electoral commission to do so.
Checks on the INEC website as of Friday showed that the umpire has now listed Usman as the caretaker committee chairperson of the Labour Party (INEC).
Other members of the NWC are Senator Darlington Nwokocha (National Secretary); Hamisu Santuraki (National Treasurer); Aisha Madije (National Financial Secretary), and Eric Ifere (National Legal Adviser.
The development adds another layer of intrigue to the battle for the leadership of the Labour Party (LP), one of Nigeria’s opposition political parties.
On January 21, the Federal High Court, Abuja, recognised the Usman-led NWC of the Labour Party, sacking Julius Abure as the party’s national chairman.
Justice Peter Lifu based his action on the verdict of the Supreme Court declaring Nenadi as the authentic leader of the Labour Party
He asked INEC to recognise the Usman-led NWC as the party’s legally recognised authority until the conduct of the party’s next convention.
According to Justice Lifu, the evidence before the court indicated that Abure’s tenure as Labour Party national chairman had ended.
While dismissing the matter as a non-justiciable internal party affair, he said the establishment of the Caretaker Committee was “a necessity” arising from the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling.
Following the ruling, the Abure-led group in the LP vowed to appeal the Federal High Court ruling.
The spokesman of the group, Obiorah Ifoh, claimed, “the judgment was a clear contradiction of the Supreme Court judgment, which clearly stated that no court has the power to appoint leadership for any political party and that leadership issues are internal affairs of political parties.”
Ifoh claimed that the Court of Appeal had, in the past, affirmed Abure’s NWC as the authentic leadership of the party.
“To us, this is a clear contradiction of what the Supreme Court said. The apex court held that all matters relating to the leadership of a political party are internal affairs of the party, and that has been its consistent position,” he said.
The internal wranglings in the party date back to the aftermath of the 2023 elections, where the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, polled over six million votes.
Ahead of the 2027 elections, Obi had declared for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), leaving the Labour Party to appoint Governor Alex Otti of Abia State as its national leader.
