.As Obi, Abure factions summon different NEC meetings
…LP national caretaker C’ttee mere political jobbers seeking relevance-Ekiti Chairman
The protracted leadership crisis in the Labour Party (LP) deepened today as the two opposing parties summoned separate National Executive Council (NEC) meetings on the way forward after last Friday’s Supreme Court judgement on the matter.
While the Barrister Julius Abure-led party leadership has summoned a NEC meeting currently ongoing in Abuja at the party’s national secretariat, the Mr Peter Obi/Governor Alex Otti-led stakeholders have scheduled theirs for Wednesday, April 9 in Abuja. The Obi/Otti group under the Caretaker Team is led by Senator Nenadi Usman, reports Daily Trust.
The Obi/Otti meeting notice was contained in a statement today signed by the spokesperson of the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), Ibrahim Umar.
“The two leading figures of the LP, the 2023 Presidential flag bearer Peter Obi and the sole state governor of the party, Dr Alex Oti of Abia State, have summoned the NEC of the party in Abuja on Wednesday,y, April 9, 2025,” Umar said.
The statement said that the NEC meeting shall be followed concurrently by an interactive TownHall Engagement with major stakeholders and other organs of the party at Transcorp Hotel.
He said, “The stakeholders listed to attend the meeting include the Vice Presidential candidate for the 2023 election (Senator Datti Baba Ahmed), serving and former senators and senatorial candidates of LP in the 2023 election, serving and former members of House of Representatives and LP candidates in 2023 election, all members of the National Caretaker Committee (NTC), all former governors candidates who are still in the party, representatives of NLC/TUC Political Commission, all members of the former LP National Working Committee (NWC).”
He said that the meeting is in furtherance of the Supreme Court ruling last week terminating the Julius Abure-led NWC.
The nation’s Apex Court on Friday ruled on the leadership crisis rocking the party.
It was earlier reported that the Supreme Court has set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognising Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the LP.
In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to have pronounced Abure National Chairman of the LP having earlier found that the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
It held that issue of leadership was internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction and noted that Abure’s tenure had since expired.
The court allowed the appeal filed by Senator Ester Nenadi Usman and one other and held that it was meritorious, before subsequently proceeding to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by the Abure faction of the LP for being unmeritorious.
However, in a swift reaction, Abure said that the Supreme Court insists that the lower courts should have declined jurisdiction and shouldn’t have made pronouncement on the leadership of a political party and therefore struck out Senator Nenadi Usman’s appeal at the Appeal Court and the LP suit at the trial court.
The two feuding parties shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, interpreted the judgement as favouring their sides of the divide on who is the authentic leader of the LP.
A communique which is expected of the ongoing Abure-led NEC meeting may approve the suspension of Obi and Governor Alex Otti for anti-party activities, having already said that Senator Nenadi Usman is inconsequential as she was never a member of the Labour Party.
.As Obi, Abure factions summon different NEC meetings
…LP national caretaker C’ttee mere political jobbers seeking relevance –Ekiti Chairman
However, LP national caretaker committee mere political jobbers, seeking relevance – Ekiti chairman
The Labour Party in Ekiti State has described the Nenadi Usman-led national executive caretaker committee as mere political jobbers, seeking relevance in the party.
The chairman of the party in the state, Mr Odunayo Okunade, stated this while addressing journalists at the end of the State Working Committee (SWC) meeting in Ado-Ekiti on Monday.
He said that the SWC appraised, among other crisis rocking the party, the Supreme Court judgment of April 4, which set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal.
Okunade said that the caretaker committee was unknown to the party’s internal guides, saying, “they are mischievous people that had grown wings after the ground breaking achievements of the party’s 2023 Presidential election.”
He said the Supreme Court judgment had put a stop to all wranglings and insinuations that had been clogs in the wheel of the party’s progress.
Okunade, however, congratulated the National Chairman, Julius Abure, for his well deserved victory at the Supreme Court, urging him to passionately forgive all his distractors in the interest of the party.
He called on the national leader and his team to work towards the quick reconciliation and reunion of various factions in the party ahead of future elections.
“Labour Party is our home and together we shall coast to victory,” he stated.
Okunade, therefore, called on all warring factions to sheath their swords and allow the party to focus on its efforts at rescuing the country from the present socio-economic crisis.
Similarly, Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti has told Julius Abure, the immediate past national chairman of Labour Party (LP) to give peace a chance, warning that any attempt to destroy the party will backfire.
Otti’s warning was coming against the backdrop of the misleading interpretations being given to the Supreme court judgement that sacked the Julius Abure led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, reports Daily Sun.
Otti, who spoke while inaugurating the New Leadership of Abia Arise organization (his grassroots political group), said that, the Labour Party is bigger than every member.
“The party (LP) is bigger and more important than any of us put together. The triumph of evil over good is for a moment. So, we thank God for Friday. We somehow believed that justice will be done to the Labour Party.
“I was watching and saw some people making some claims about them not being removed by the Supreme Court. We can as well ignore them, but I will not ignore them.
“I want to appeal to them to give peace a chance, except, if what they wanted in the first place is to destroy the party, and if they want to destroy the party, they will destroy themselves and the party will become even stronger,”
Otti inaugurated the Abia Arise State Executive, Zonal and Local Government Coordinators with Nkem Okoro as State Chairman, Mrs. Sophia Chidinma Ikpeama, Vice Chairman and Dr. Sylvester Ibeneme as Secretary among other officials.
He noted that Abia Arise was instrumental to his team’s migration to the Labour Party and contributed immensely to the campaign and electoral victory of 2023.
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