Supreme court didn’t invalidate Abure’s chairmanship, says LP legal adviser

Kehinde Edun, national legal adviser of the Labour Party (LP), says the supreme court did not invalidate the chairmanship of Julius Abure.

Speaking during an interview on News Night, an Arise TV programme, Edun said the supreme court did not overturn the earlier judgment that affirmed Abure’s position as national chairman of the LP.

He said the apex court merely held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to make certain pronouncements on the party’s leadership.

“There are two court of appeal judgments. There is the judgment of 13th November 2024, and then, there is the judgment of January 17, 2025,” he said.

“In the judgment of November 13, 2024, the court affirmed Abure as the national chairman of Labour Party. That judgment has not been appealed against.

“It is a judgment in a pre-election matter and the time to appeal against it has elapsed. And that judgment remains binding and subsisting.”

According to Edun, in the second judgment delivered on January 17, 2025, the court of appeal ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter, as it pertained to internal party leadership.

He said the court also held that the appeal filed by the appellant, Nenadi Usman, was liable to be dismissed.

“The court already admitted that it had no jurisdiction, but during the same judgment, it now referred to its earlier judgment of 13th November 2024, to affirm Abure as the national chairman,” Edun noted.

“The court did not say the November 13th judgment did not affirm Abure. No, the supreme court did not say that.

“The supreme court said that since in this second judgment, the court already said it has no jurisdiction, then it shouldn’t have now made any pronouncement. That finding that the court made shouldn’t have been made.”

He maintained that the supreme court neither sacked Abure nor set aside the earlier verdict of the appellate court.

“The judgment of November 13th is still there, valid and subsisting, not set aside, which affirmed Abure, and the supreme court did not set aside that judgment,” he added.