The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has reinstated the Labour Party National Chairman, Julius Abure on its website.
Also re-enlisted by the electoral body is Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim as National Secretary of Labour Party.
INEC stated that the reenlistment was based on a court order.
In a related development, the electoral body also reinstated Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on its website.
However, the Commission did not indicate whether the development was based on a court order.
Recall that the Supreme Court had last month set aside earlier decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal which recognized Abure as Labour Party’s National Chairman.
Abure since then had continued to lay claim to the seat, relying on the apex court’s decision that the issue of his chairmanship is an internal affair of the Labour Party and, therefore, not justiciable.
However, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti and the 2023 presidential candidate of the party, Mr Peter Obi, are insisting on the validity of the Caretaker Committee chaired by Senator Nenadi Usman. They maintained that the Supreme Court ruling effectively sacked Abure-led National Working Committee, NWC.
Recall that on April 9, 2025, Otto had formally presented to INEC, a Certified True Copy, CTC, of the Supreme Court judgment concerning the party’s leadership.
According to him, the move was aimed at fostering clarity, mutual understanding, and institutional alignment regarding the LP’s current structure.
However, INEC on Thursday re-enlisted Abure’s name on it’s website. It stated that the name was re-enlisted after the Commission studied the Certified True Copy of the Supreme Court judgment.
In a related development, the Supreme Court had in March overturned the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court which sacked Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP.
Recall that before the judgement, there had been a protracted leadership tussle between Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye.
Ude-Okoye was reportedly chosen by some PDP Governors as a replacement for Anyanwu as National Secretary of the party.
Also like in the case of the Labour Party, the apex court had ruled that the lower courts had no jurisdiction to have entertained the matter ab initio. The SC stressed that it remained an internal affair of the PDP.