The battle to determine the authentic national chairman of the Labour Party (LP) has continued to fester as the Appeal Court yesterday ruled in favour of Lamidi Apapa.
The appellate court in Owerri, Imo State, has sacked Julius Abure and declared Apapa as the national chairman of the party in another long-drawn legal battle for the soul of the party.
Advertisement
{ “slotId”: “6091947626”, “unitType”: “normal”, “pubId”: “pub-7372768776211137” }
The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately recognise and publish the names of all the governorship candidates produced by the Apapa-led National Working Committee (NWC) in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.
A legal dispute between Apapa and Abure, who had been named the chairman of the LP by an appeal court earlier in August, culminated in the court’s ruling yesterday.
On April 5, 2023, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court issued an injunction prohibiting Abure and three other LP members from misrepresenting themselves as national officers of the party.
Justice Muazu later granted an order of stay of execution on the suspension of Abure and the other officers in another ruling delivered on May 19, 2023.
The Edo State High Court aligned itself with the ruling in a judgment delivered on May 28, 2023, and declared Abure as the national chairman.
This stance was also strengthened by an Appeal Court ruling in Edo State, affirming Abure as the party chairman.
All that has now changed, as the appeal court in Imo State has ruled in favour of Apapa bringing a new dimension to the party’s leadership crisis.
