Nenadi, NLC, Apapa battle for grip of LP with Abure - The Nation Newspaper (2025)

April 10, 2025 by Frank Ikpefan, Abuja, Tony Akowe, Abuja and Emmanuel Badejo | Assistant Editor

• I’ve not discussed 2027 poll with any group, says Obi

The Esther Nenadi-Usman-led National Caretaker Committee (NCC), the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Deputy National Chairman Lamidi Apapa yesterday moved differently to regain the leadership of the Labour Party (LP) from National Chairman Julius Abure. All three groups took the steps following Friday’s Supreme Court judgment on the party’s leadership crisis.

The Nenadi-Usman-led NCC move swiftly to take control of the embattled party.

The committee, backed by the only LP Governor – Alex Otti (Abia) – and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi held a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja attended by state and federal lawmakers elected on the party’s ticket.

After the meeting, Senator Usman, Otti and Obi led a delegation to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office to submit the Certified True Copy (CTC) of Friday’s Supreme Court judgment to back the committee’s legitimacy and to request for INEC to withdraw its recognition for Julius Abure as national chairman.

But Abure yesterday vowed to fight on, saying he remain the legitimate leader of the party.

He accused the trio of Otti, Obi and Nenadi-Usman of planning to hijack the party structures ahead of 2027.

The caretaker committee also resolved to conduct a primary today for its candidates in the November 8 Anambra governorship election.

Last week, the Abure group picked former Managing Director of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Agency (NIWA) George Moghalu as LP standard bearer.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) created a third leg to the crisis by directing its state councils to take over the secretariats of the LP in their respective states.

In another twist to the imbroglio, a party chieftain, Lamidi Apapa, who once declared himself national chairman, returned yesterday to the same claim.

NCC: Abure lacks legitimacy

National Executive Council (NEC) of the NCC insisted that Abure lacked legitimacy because the elections that produced him as national chairman did not follow due process.

Otti, who read excerpts from the Supreme Court judgment, said it affirmed the leadership of Nenadi-Usman.

He emphasised that the Supreme Court also affirmed that the plaintiff (Usman and others) were right in their appeal.

The governor admonished politicians to respect the tenures of office as stipulated in the constitutions of political parties.

Otti faulted Abure for insisting on being the LP national chairman after his tenure had expired and party members also do not want him again.

He said: “I had a meeting with him (Abure) and asked him, what he wanted. He said he did not want anything; we offered him the chairmanship of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT). He went ahead to stay when his tenure and those of the NWC had expired.

“The correct procedure if you still want to be national chairman is to start from the ward congress, state congress, zonal congress, where the delegates would emerge for the national convention and everyone member is free to contest.”

Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the party, said the court had done the right thing by vacating the judgment of the Appeal Court.

He said: “Our governor has said it. Let’s do the right thing. Let’s go and do it from the ward to local government, to state, to zone, and then come and do it nationally. Everybody is free to contest.

“Everybody is free to contest. Nobody is excluded. I will ensure fairness. We want to build a party that will be fair, a party that will be just, a party that people can look at and say, this is how this party is.

“We want to go into the next election knowing full well that we are offering Nigeria the best of people and competent people for House of Assembly, House of Reps, Senate, or for governor, for any level of election.”

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Obi said contrary to speculations, he had no plan to defect from the party, adding that the chieftains should come together as a united family

He also clarified that he had not entered into any discussions with any individual or group, adding that any decision about the party’s future would be made in consultation with its stakeholders.

Obi added: “I have not told anybody that I am leaving the Labour Party.”

Nenadi-Usman said the judgment of the Supreme Court showed that the interest of the people remained uppermost.

She said although the ruling favours the NCC, reconciliation with Abure is in the interest of the party.

Otti, Obi, Nenadi-Usman meet INEC over crisis

Otti, Obi and Nenadi-Usman were at the INEC office yesterday to discuss the crisis and the implications of the Supreme Court judgment.

A statement on the INEC X-handle confirmed the meeting, where Otti also spoke on the need for clarity, mutual understanding, and institutional alignment of the LP’s current structure.

According to the statement, the delegation was received by INEC’s Acting Chairman, Sam Olumekun, and other national commissioners.

The deliberations focussed collaboration and reinforcing democratic values.

Olumekun reaffirmed the Commission’s unwavering commitment to neutrality, transparency, and the rule of law in the discharge of its constitutional responsibilities.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi said Olumekun acted for the Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who is currently attending ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions meeting in the Gambia.

I am LP chairman, says Apapa

LP National Deputy Vice Chairman (South) Apapa said he plans to assume the national chairmanship to avoid a leadership vacuum

Apapa, who declared himself chairman at a press conference in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, said the court’s pronouncements had nullified all actions and decisions taken by Abure since April 2023.

He said in a statement that the party’s NWC as of 2022 will meet next Monday.

The statement was signed by Deputy National Chairman NLC Mr Ladi Iliya, Deputy National Chairman TUC Dr Ayo Olorunfemi, National Secretary Alh Umar Farouq Ibrahim, National Legal Adviser Oyelekan Akingbade, National Publicity Secretary Dr Abayomi Arabambi and National Treasurer Mrs Oluchi Opara,

It reads: “Following the dismissal of the cross-appeal filed by the ousted former National Chairman, Julius Abure, also by the Supreme Court on 4th April 2025, what this means is that all actions and decisions taken by Julius Abure since 4th April 2023, are null and void.

“Following the decision of the Supreme Court on setting aside all judgments that recognise the leadership of Julius Abure as National Chairman, I, Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa, the most senior deputy national chairman, and in consonance with our party constitution, Article 14 2(a)(b), hereby take over the running of the affairs of our great party with effect from today, Wednesday, the 9th day of April 2025, in an acting capacity, and Alh Farouk Umar Ibrahim as National Secretary,” he stated.

“My leadership hereby calls on all members of the Labour Party that the National Working Committee of our party as of 2022 will meet next week, Monday, 14th April 2025, to announce our plans, which will include zoning the position of National Chairman to the North and National Secretary to the South.”

Apapa vowed to take proactive steps to resuscitate the moribund Board of Trustees and make it functional.

NLC members to take over LP offices

The NLC directed its members to take over LP offices nationwide, following the Supreme Court ruling.

In a statement by its President, Joe Ajaero, the NLC directed the LP National Executive Committee (NEC) to appoint an interim leadership, which would conduct an inclusive Special National Convention for the party in line with the provisions of its Constitution and the consent judgment.

The statement reads: “To resolve the leadership vacuum in the Labour Party, the surviving institutional members of the LP National Executive Committee (NEC) are expected to appoint an interim leadership which will conduct an inclusive Special National Convention for the party in line with the provisions of the LP Constitution and the consent judgment.

“Any step outside these constitutional procedures will be an affront to the rule of law and would be tantamount to an unmitigated assault on constitutional rule. Such mischief will be stoutly resisted by Nigerian workers and people.

“We use this medium to put every Nigerian worker, labour party members and patriotic citizens on alert. We will no longer condone the antics of inconsequential characters like Mr. Julius Abure, whose only relevance is their availability for mischief and inanity at the behest of silhouettes in the corridors of power.

“The Supreme Court is one of the most enduring institutions and beacons of not only the rule of law but our sovereignty as a country.

“Nigerian workers and people, especially genuine members of the Labour Party, will not sit back and watch unscrupulous elements desecrate Nigeria’s laws and the well-founded judgement of the Supreme Court.

“If we fail to take action, it means that we have accepted the complete deconstruction of the institutions of state and the desecration of the shared values that bind all of us as one people under constitutional rule.

“As authentic Labour Party leaders known to all Nigerians continue to take steps to recover and reposition the party as the vehicle for the emancipation of the Nigerian masses, we wish to warn that characters like Julius Abure should advise themselves to recuse themselves from the path of complete self-destruction they have embarked upon through their headless and heedless affront to the judgment of the Supreme Court that has swept their existence into oblivion. “Just as we warned him about a year ago that Nigerian workers and genuine members of the Labour Party will always collect what belongs to them no matter how long a mischief lasts.

“By this communication, we urge every worker in Nigeria, all genuine members of the Labour Party and all lovers of democracy to be on standby to once again peacefully repossess all offices of the Labour Party nationwide.

“The leadership of the NLC Political Commission and other concerned Labour Party stakeholders will issue necessary directives to this effect.”

The congress therefore, put the security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service on notice, saying that they have a constitutional duty to enable and enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court.

NLC also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to remove every insignia of Abure and his National Working Committee from its portals.

It added: “We are also putting all the security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service on notice that they have a constitutional duty to enable and enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court.

“We expect their cooperation as we pursue the rule of law. Any action to the contrary will present our dear country as a banana republic.

“Finally, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which had always pleaded alignment with the pronouncement of the court of law in the leadership issues in the Labour Party, to give full effect to the conclusive judgment of the Supreme Court by removing every insignia of Mr. Julius Abure and his National Working Committee from its portals.”

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lamidi apapa and Abure

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