The Labour Party faction loyal to Julius Abure has insisted that he remains the party’s National Chairman, maintaining that his mandate runs through 2028.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by his Special Adviser on Media and Strategic Communications, Aju Elumelu-James, the group said recent public discussions about the party’s leadership had been riddled with misinformation. According to the statement, although the issue is currently before the Court of Appeal, the legal proceedings should not be used to distort what it described as clear constitutional provisions guiding the party.
The faction traced the leadership timeline to December 2020, when the then National Chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, died. Maria Lebeke, who was Deputy National Chairman at the time, stepped in as acting chair and convened a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting. At that meeting, held on 29 March 2021, Abure was unanimously elected to complete the late chairman’s tenure.
It added that as the tenure approached its end in June 2023, the NEC meeting in Asaba in April 2023 approved a one-year extension. Before that extension lapsed in June 2024, the party held a National Convention on 27 March 2024 in Nnewi, where the present leadership was elected. Based on that convention, the statement said, Abure’s tenure is set to expire in 2028.
The group dismissed claims that his term had ended, describing such assertions as false and misleading. It also clarified that the Supreme Court did not rule on the validity of the Nnewi convention or on party leadership, but only held that leadership disputes within political parties are internal matters beyond the court’s jurisdiction.
Reaffirming its stance, the Abure-led camp urged members and the public to rely on the decisions of the party’s recognised organs—the National Working Committee, the National Executive Council, and the National Convention—on leadership questions.
The statement comes amid ongoing internal strife within the party, including a January Federal High Court judgment that removed Abure as chairman and recognised a caretaker committee headed by Senator Nenadi Usman, as well as recent allegations by the Usman-led faction that Abure’s supporters invaded the party’s national secretariat.