The Court of Appeal in Owerri, Imo State, has sacked Julius Abure, and recognised Lamido Apapa as the national chairman of the Labour Party.
This is even as 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 in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.
The court also dismissed the Imo State governorship candidate Senator Athan Achonu, and others belonging to the Abure-led LP faction.
It will be recalled that in April, Apapa said his suspension as a member of the party was invalid, noting that he remained the ‘legitimate acting chairman.’
Also on August 14, a Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo State capital, affirmed Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the national publicity secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh.
However, following the Appeal Court’s ruling reaffirming Lamidi Apapa as the national chairman of Party, the party has said that its governorship candidates in Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa states remain validated ahead of the 11th November, 2023 gubernatorial elections.
Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, the factional publicity secretary, Arabambi Abayomi, expressed satisfaction with the Appeal Court’s verdict and viewed it as a clear validation of their candidates’ positions.
He said: “The FCT High court restrained Abure and others from parading themselves as National Officers of the party and as a result the party, appointed the Deputy National Chairman (Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa) as the Acting National Chairman of the party pursuant to its Constitution. The party under the leadership of Apapa wrote to the INEC changing its date of primary earlier scheduled by Abure 15th to 16th of April, 2023.”
“Notwithstanding the fact that he was under a restraining order, Abure still went ahead to conduct his primaries for Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa on 15th of April, 2023. On the other hand, the Lamidi Apapa led faction conducted his primaries for Imo on 16th of April, 2023 and as such there were two primaries conducted by the Labour Party in these states.
“Peeved by the primary conducted by the Apapa faction, a candidate who participated in the Abure primary took the Apapa candidate to court whilst maintaining that Abure candidates were the authentic candidate as he is the authentic chairman of the party.
“The case was frantically defended, and the Federal High court, Owerri Division, declared the primaries conducted by Apapa as the authentic candidate as Abure was under a restraining order as at the time he screened candidates and conducted his primaries. Thus, the court recognized Alhaji Lamidi Apapa as the authentic Chairman of the party.”
Also speaking, Lamidi Apapa, said, “The order of FCT has not been vacated and that is why on the basis of that the Appeal court reaffirmed that by the time he conducted his primary restraining order was in place and up till today the order is still in force.”
Speaking about chances for reconciliation, Apapa said that his faction is ready for a truce, adding that: “What I want everybody to know is that nobody’s above the law. Anybody who is above the law should not be in politics because it’s a creation of law and where you are disobeying the law that provides you the authority, then you are not supposed to lead the people. So, like I said, we are ready for reconciliation but not at our own expense. A reconciliation that will recognize the truth and obey the law of the land, not one that will encourage illegality. We are prepared for reconciliation at that point.”
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