- The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reinstated Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) and Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), following recent Supreme Court rulings.
According to INEC sources and Vanguard findings, Abure’s name, along with that of LP’s National Secretary Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim, has been restored on the electoral body’s official list. The reinstatement, INEC stated, was in compliance with a court order based on the Certified True Copy (CTC) of a Supreme Court judgment.
The apex court had previously nullified the decisions of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal that recognized Abure’s removal, ruling instead that the matter was an internal party issue and outside the jurisdiction of the lower courts. This development effectively maintained the status quo ante bellum, thereby recognizing Abure’s continued chairmanship.
Despite this, Labour Party figures such as Abia State Governor Alex Otti and 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi have supported a Caretaker Committee led by Senator Nenadi Usman. Otti had, in early April, formally presented the Supreme Court’s judgment to INEC to support this stance.
Similarly, INEC also reinstated Senator Anyanwu as PDP National Secretary, following a Supreme Court decision which also overturned rulings by lower courts that had earlier removed him. Like the LP situation, the court held that the leadership dispute was an internal party affair and therefore not justiciable in regular courts.
