The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has formally recognised the Labour Party (LP) National Working Committee (NWC) led by Nenadi Usman, following a court order directing the electoral body to do so.
Checks on the INEC website as of Friday showed that Usman has been listed as the caretaker committee chairperson of the Labour Party.
Other members of the recognised NWC include Senator Darlington Nwokocha as National Secretary, Hamisu Santuraki as National Treasurer, Aisha Madije as National Financial Secretary, and Eric Ifere as National Legal Adviser.
The development deepens the ongoing leadership tussle within the Labour Party, one of Nigeria’s opposition political parties.
On January 21, the Federal High Court, Abuja, recognised the Usman-led NWC, effectively removing Julius Abure as the party’s national chairman. Justice Peter Lifu anchored his ruling on a Supreme Court verdict which declared Nenadi Usman as the authentic leader of the Labour Party.
Justice Lifu consequently ordered INEC to recognise the Usman-led NWC as the party’s legally recognised authority pending the conduct of the party’s next convention.
According to the judge, evidence before the court showed that Abure’s tenure as national chairman had ended. While describing the matter as a non-justiciable internal party affair, Justice Lifu said the establishment of a Caretaker Committee was “a necessity” arising from the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling.
Following the judgment, the Abure-led group vowed to challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.
Spokesman of the group, Obiorah Ifoh, argued that “the judgment was a clear contradiction of the Supreme Court judgment, which clearly stated that no court has the power to appoint leadership for any political party and that leadership issues are internal affairs of political parties.”
Ifoh further claimed that the Court of Appeal had previously affirmed Abure’s NWC as the authentic leadership of the party.
“To us, this is a clear contradiction of what the Supreme Court said. The apex court held that all matters relating to the leadership of a political party are internal affairs of the party, and that has been its consistent position,” he said.
The leadership crisis within the Labour Party dates back to the aftermath of the 2023 general elections, in which the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, polled over six million votes.
Ahead of the 2027 elections, Obi declared for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), after which the Labour Party appointed Governor Alex Otti of Abia State as its national leader.
