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Vows to Challenge Decision in Supreme Court
- Safiu Kehinde
The factional leader of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has rejected the Appeal Court’s ruling over the party’s leadership crisis as he vowed to challenge the decision at the Supreme Court.
NPO Reported that the appellate court had in its ruling on Tuesday upheld the removal of Abure as the National Chairman of the party while affirming the legitimacy of the Nenadi Usman-led faction.
The court further slammed N10 million fine against Abure for wasting the time of the court on an issue that had already been conclusively determined.
Reacting to the development in a press conference held shortly after the ruling, the factional Labour Party leader declared the Appeal Court’s ruling as unacceptable.
Abure held that the court has no jurisdiction over the internal affairs of a political party.
“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 Courts 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.” He said.
Abure further maintained that his tenure has not expired as he cited the March 2024 Nnewi convention which reinstated his leadership.
He however maintained that the Umuahia meeting which produced the Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee is against the Labour Party’s constitution.
“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 4 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 of sort.” He said.
The embattled Labour Party’s factional leader disclosed that the legal team of his faction are set to appeal the decision before the Supreme Court.
“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. Thank you and God bless you.” He added.