Politics
Appeal Court affirms Abure as Labour Party’s National Chairman
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, affirmed Mr. Julius Abure as the authentic National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, vacated an order of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, which barred the Abure-led Executives from piloting the affirms of the political party.
The high court order was a fallout of a suit that was filed by the Chief Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the party.
In the ruling he delivered on April 5, 2023, Justice Hamza Muazu restrained Mr. Abure from parading himself as the National Chairman of the LP.
He equally barred Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Oluchi Opara and Clement Ojukwu, from further functioning as National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary of the party, restrictively, pending the determination of a suit before it.
The restraining order followed an ex-parte application that was brought before the court by eight aggrieved members of the party loyal to the Apapa faction.
Those behind the suit marked: CV/2930/2023, which has the LP as the 5th Defendant, were: Mr. Martins Esikpali John O., Lucky Shaibu, Isah Zekeri, Omogbai Frank, Abokhaiu Aliu, Ayohkaire Lateef, Job Elomah and Dr. Abayomi Arabambi.
Specifically, the plaintiffs had through their team of lawyers led by Chief James Ogwu Onoja, SAN, prayed the court to among other things, declare that, “the 1st Defendant (Abure) cannot continue to function in office as the National Chairman of the 5th Defendant as a result of his suspension by the Ward 03 Executive, Arue, Esan North East Local Government Area dated 31st March, 2023”.
They further prayed the court for; “A declaration that the 1st — 4th Defendants cannot continue to remain in office as National Chairman, National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary of the 5th Defendant consequent on the prima facie case of forgery, perjury and conspiracy established against them by the Commissioner of Police F.C.T and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory pending their prosecution in court.
“A declaration that the 1st — 4th Defendants lack the moral and legal standing to continue to function in office as the National Chairman, National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary of the 5th Defendant having been indicted upon established prima facie case by the Commissioner of Police, F.C.T and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
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“An order directing the 1st Defendant to vacate office as the National Chairman of the 5th Defendants based on the communique issued by the Ward 03 Executive, Arue, Esan North East Local Government Area of the 5th Defendant, Edo State Chapter dated 31 st March, 2023.
“An order directing the 1st , 2nd , 3rd and 4th Defendants to vacate office as the National Chairman, National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary of the 5th Defendant having been indicted upon established prima facie case by the Commissioner of Police, F.C.T and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“An order directing the National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee of the 5th Defendant to appoint interim National Chairman, National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary for the 5th Defendant pending the convention of the 5th Defendant for such purpose”.
As well as, “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants from henceforth parading themselves as the National Chairman, National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary respectively of the 5th Defendant”.
However, following the dismissal of a preliminary objection he filed to challenge the competence of the suit as well as the ex-parte orders, Abure took the case before the Court of Appeal.
Delivering judgement in the matter on Wednesday, the appellate court, in its lead decision that was read by Justice Hamma Barka, faulted the lower court which it said wrongly assumed jurisdiction in the matter.
The appellate court held that the case of the Plaintiffs was incompetent, noting that since they raised issues that bordered on fraud and criminality, they ought to have commenced the action through a Writ of Summon which would allow the parties to call witnesses and tender relevant evidence before the court.
It maintained that Justice Muazu was wrong when he held that the case could be effectively determined through an Originating Summon.
“Unless an action is initiated by a proper process of law, the action becomes a waste of time despite how competent it may be.
“The aim of an Originating Summon is to speed up the process. But where there are serious issues of fact, it should not begin with an Originating Summon,” the appellate court held.
It further queried the statutory powers of Ward Executives of a political party to suspend National Officers of the party.
More so, the appellate court held that issues the Plaintiffs raised before the high court, bordered on the domestic affair of a political party which no court was permitted to delve into.
Aside from upholding Abure’s appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/559/2023, the appellate court awarded a cost of N1million against the Respondents.
The Labour Party (LP) has strongly rejected rumors suggesting that it is in a partnership with President Bola Tinubu in anticipation of the 2027 elections. These rumors claimed that the LP had struck an agreement to support Tinubu’s bid for a second term should he choose to run.
In response, the LP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Obiora Ifoh, issued a statement on Friday, labeling these allegations as baseless and unfounded. He emphasized that the party has continually dismissed any notion of collaboration with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) concerning the upcoming 2027 general elections.
Ifoh asserted that the Labour Party remains the most prominent opposition party in Nigeria, with the party’s National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, being a leading critic of the current government. “Our National Chairman is at the forefront of challenging the policies of the government, consistently voicing opposition to the actions of the current administration,” Ifoh said.
The spokesperson also highlighted the party’s ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy. These include the establishment of an Electoral Reform Committee aimed at ensuring free, fair, and transparent elections, as well as the introduction of an e-membership registration system that has already attracted a significant number of new members.
Ifoh further expressed disappointment over the defamatory nature of the rumors, calling it “ridiculous and unfortunate” for anyone to attempt to undermine the Labour Party’s efforts in such a manner. “For anyone to try to tarnish the reputation of a party that is actively working to reshape the political landscape in Nigeria is truly unfortunate,” he remarked.
Finally, the Labour Party spokesperson challenged Deji Adeyanju and anyone else promoting such claims to provide concrete evidence to support their accusations. “We call on Deji Adeyanju and others to present factual proof if they believe that the leadership of our party or Mr. Abure has any intention of working with President Tinubu or the APC for the 2027 elections,” Ifoh stated firmly.
The Federal government has confirmed that it has stopped the October monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC revenue payment to Rivers State amid the ongoing crisis in the oil rich state.
The Spokesperson of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, disclosed this exclusively to an online newspaper on Friday.
This comes as the Nigerian Government on Wednesday announced the approval for the disbursement of N1.1411 trillion as the October 2024 Federation Accounts Allocation Revenue to Federal, State, and local government councils.
However, a report emerged that FAAC revenue in October was not disbursed to Rivers State following a court stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian government from carrying out such action.
Reacting to the development, Mokwa said the OAGF as a government agency will respect the court order.
Meanwhile, he stated that the October monthly FAAC revenue has not been disbursed to respective states as of filing the report.
“What I got is that the October 2024 FAAC has not been distributed yet. However, the Federal Government will obey the court order on the matter of Rivers State allocation.
“We are going to follow due diligence as long as there is no contrary order. In case there is a contrary, the status will remain,” he revealed.
He added, “The process of disbursement of the October 2024 monthly allocation is going.”.
Recall that on October 30, this year, Justice Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court barred CBN and the Nigerian government from disbursing monthly allocations to the Rivers State government.
This comes after an originating summons filed by the factional Rivers State Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule.
The Amaewhule case was based on the grounds that the Rivers State Executive, under the leadership of Simi Fubara, was yet to comply with the order of a Federal High Court directing it to re-present the 2024 appropriation bill to the Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
In the past month, the Amaewhule faction, backed by Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, had been in a political battle with Fubara.
Recall that upon the emergence of Fubara as governor, he fell apart with his predecessor, Wike, which had led to a month-long crisis in the oil-rich state.
Daily Post
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele has denied ever having any altercation with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
This was contained in a statement issued by his media office noting that:
“Our attention has been drawn to fake news currently being circulated on the X handle of one Jackson Ude, a known serial blackmailer and cash-and-carry journalist.
“The post is about an alleged altercation and physical fight between Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday.
“For the record, it is a verifiable fact that Senator Bamidele has never been involved in physical assault in over two decades of his political trajectory, not even when he was a young man leading the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as President.
“It is surprising that the purveyor of this misleading information in his selfish agenda and unprofessional conduct threw ethos of Journalism into waste bin and decided to feast on roadside gists to tarnish the image of the Senate Leader.
“We are aware that the fake news is meant to cause disaffection within the Senate and by extension; heating up the political system.
“To think that the Senate Leader, President of the Senate and other principal officers of the Senate together received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. YU Dunhai and his delegation few minutes after leaving the plenary on Wednesday is a significant testimony against Ude’s imagination.
“Further to this, photographs of the Chinese envoys with the leadership of the Senate were widely published in today’s major national newspapers. It is equally verifiable that the Senate Leader and the Senate President both drove out of the National Assembly premises in the same vehicle yesterday.
“This time again, the Senate Leader is sounding a note of warning to all attention seekers in the ilk of Ude to be careful and not take the Leader’s gentlemanliness for granted.
“Henceforth, the Leader will be forced to use the instrumentality of the law to protect himself and his office as enshrined in the CyberCrime Act 2015.
” We, therefore, urge the public to disregard this misinformation and treat it with the disrespect it entirely deserves.
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