Julius Abure, the embattled National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has rejected his supposed removal by an Appeal Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State’s capital.
The Court of Appeal, which convened in Abuja due to security concerns, declared the off-season governorship primary elections conducted by the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, unlawful.
The court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to promptly recognize and publish the names of all governorship candidates submitted by the Lamidi Apapa-led National Working Committee in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.
Speaking to journalists, Apapa emphasized that the court verdict had reinforced that Abure was not the legitimate party chairman at the time of the primaries.
He said, “The Edo State matter more or less has to do with civil matters. The Excos in Edo suspended him, and they went to court because of that, and they don’t have the right to suspend him. I’m talking about the ward level.
“But the FCT (court) restraining order has to do with criminal matters and is between the state and Abure, and nobody is above the law. That’s the difference between a civil matter and a criminal matter.
“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, the restraining order was in place, and up till today, the order is still in force. That’s the difference between the two.”
However, in an interview with The PUNCH, Abure called rumors of his expulsion by the Appeal Court “fake news.”
He said: “It is nothing but fake news. Let me send you our official reaction to the report. Senator Athan Achonu is our candidate. The lower court said it has no jurisdiction to look at the case ab initio and that the status quo should remain.
But why we even went on appeal was that after the court had denied jurisdiction, the judge went ahead to make few comments. It was on the basis that we didn’t want anybody to capitalise on it by challenging it. The court today now said the appeal was unnecessary because it has denied jurisdiction.
“That was what they said. So neither the Federal High Court nor the Appeal Court was in their favour. But we know they are used to carrying propaganda and so on.”
Umar Farouk, the LP National Secretary, also revealed that Abure was not mentioned in the appellate court’s decision.
Farouk said, “That report was wrong. There was no where in the ruling where Abure was mentioned. Nothing was in the judgment. Somebody somewhere just twisted the judgment. It is wrong.”
