Labour Party Crisis: Abia governor reacts to suspension, asks IGP to arrest Abure
Abia State Governor Alex Otti has denounced his purported expulsion from the Labour Party (LP) and requested that Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector-General of Police, detain Julius Abure, the party's disputed national chairman.
Mr. Otti accused Mr. Abure of impersonation in a statement released Wednesday night by his media assistant, Ferdinand Ekeoma.
Using the LP platform, Mr. Otti was elected governor of Abia State in the general election of 2023.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, a group within the LP led by Mr. Abure said earlier on Wednesday that Mr. Otti will be suspended from the party due to suspected anti-party activity.
Five other notable party members, including two members of the House of Representatives and a serving senator, were also suspended by the faction in addition to the governor of Abia.
Mr. Otti accused Mr. Abure of impersonation in a statement released Wednesday night by his media assistant, Ferdinand Ekeoma.
Using the LP platform, Mr. Otti was elected governor of Abia State in the general election of 2023.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, a group within the LP led by Mr. Abure said earlier on Wednesday that Mr. Otti will be suspended from the party due to suspected anti-party activity.
Five other notable party members, including two members of the House of Representatives and a serving senator, were also suspended by the faction in addition to the governor of Abia.
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‘You’re no longer our national chairperson,’ Otti kicks
Reacting, Mr Otti argued that Mr Abure did not have the power to suspend him and five others from the party because he was no longer the LP’s national chairperson.
The governor said Mr Abure had been sacked as the LP’s national chairperson by the Supreme Court in April.
He said his suspension from the party announced by Mr Abure and his cohorts was not only a joke taken too far, but “an affront on democracy.”
“The judgement which is in agreement with the Constitution of the Labour Party, and formed the basis for the setting up of the Senator Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee stripped Abure of every authority to parade himself as the National Chairman of the Labour Party,” he said.
Mr Otti said Mr Abure only acted “smart by half” by announcing the suspension of the party members hours after he was summoned by a committee to face allegations of gross misconduct on financial misappropriation,impersonation and anti party activities against him.
“We enjoin Nigerians to disregard Abure’s laughable statement and continue to see him and his co-conspirators as a group of clowns in desperate search of a crown they do not deserve,” he said.
“We call on the Inspector General of Police to quickly arrest Mr Abure for impersonation, while INEC should ensure full implementation of the Supreme Court judgement as a way of preserving the integrity of the Supreme Court and protecting our democracy,” the governor added.
The LP has been battling an intense leadership crisis, which has split the party into two factions.
While Mr Abure leads one of the factions, Peter Obi and Mr Otti belong to another faction of the LP.
The LP’s National Executive Committee had sacked the Abure-led executive in September last year and appointed Ms Usman, a former minister of finance and ex-senator representing Kaduna South, to lead a 29-member caretaker committee and facilitate the election of a new party leadership within 90 days.
But weeks later, the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognised Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the LP.
However, the Supreme Court, on 4 April, set aside the judgement of the lower court.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to have affirmed Mr Abure as chairperson of the LP since the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.
It held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.
The appeal against Mrs. Usman's judgment was sustained by the court.
The Supreme Court rejected the cross-appeal submitted by the LP faction led by Mr. Abure as being without substance, ruling that Ms. Usman's appeal was valid.
However, the Abure-led LP side contended that Mr. Abure and other party executives were not fired by the Supreme Court.
Obiora Ifoh, the LP's national publicity secretary, asserted that the Supreme Court maintained that the issue was solely a party internal matter and that the court had not overturned the Court of Appeal's decision from November 13, 2024, which had confirmed Mr. Abure as the party's national chairperson.
The Supreme Court rejected the cross-appeal submitted by the LP faction led by Mr. Abure as being without substance, ruling that Ms. Usman's appeal was valid.
However, the Abure-led LP side contended that Mr. Abure and other party executives were not fired by the Supreme Court.
Obiora Ifoh, the LP's national publicity secretary, asserted that the Supreme Court maintained that the issue was solely a party internal matter and that the court had not overturned the Court of Appeal's decision from November 13, 2024, which had confirmed Mr. Abure as the party's national chairperson.
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