A State High Court in Edo dismissed the notice of suspension against Julius Abure, the Labour Party’s embattled national chairman, on Friday. The notice had been issued by certain party members at the ward level.
Justice Emmanuel Aihamoje, the court, dismissed the case on Friday because it lacked merit.
This was said in a statement released on Friday in Abuja by the party’s acting national publicity secretary, Obiora Ifoh, who also revealed that Abure and the executives of LP Ward 3 in Esan North East, Edo State, filed the case.
Aihamoje ruled that the party ward executive in Uromi in ward 3 lacked the authority required by the Labour Party Constitution, in particular Acts 13 & 17 and the Electoral Act of 2022, as amended, to depose the party’s national chairperson in his nearly two-hour-long decision.
In order to prevent Lamidi Apapa and his side from ousting or suspending Abure as the national chairman until a new national convention of the party is called, the judge in Suit No. HUC/21/2023 went ahead and issued a perpetual injunction.
Aihamoje added that the alleged Wards 3 executive’s decision to suspend the party’s national chairperson was made beyond the bounds of its authority under the Labour Party Constitution.
Thompson Ehiguese, the chairman of the Labour Party for Ward 3, responded to the decision by telling reporters present at the courthouse that it had put a stop to swindlers posing as Labour Party members in the ward.
He declared, “These APC members from Edo North who are posing as members of our party are. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Labour Party and the Obidient Movement for supporting Comrade Julius Abure throughout the fabricated crisis in our wonderful party.
Barrister Julius Abure will continue to serve as national chairman until the party convention takes place the following year, according to the ruling. Nothing can alter our group’s determination to recapture the mandate freely granted to Mr. Peter Obi and the party during the most recent presidential election by the Nigerian people.
For his side, Apapa and his section have been certified by the court to be “tragic power seekers,” according to Kelly Ogbaloi, chairman of the Edo State Labour Party.
“Apapa, who had previously served as deputy national chairman and keeper of the party’s constitution, knew that those who had travelled to Abuja to announce the suspension of the national chairman were not acting legally because their actions were in violation of the party’s constitution. As a result, he instead ran to the court to request an ex-parte motion to restrain the national chairman.
He claimed that the court had essentially informed them today that the charade could no longer be entertained.
When approached, Lamidi Apapa’s spokesperson, Abayomi Arabambi, revealed that he intended to speak at a press conference to discuss the decision.
Nothing has been heard from him as of the report’s filing.
