The National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, the National Secretary, Farouk Ibrahim, and two others were barred from parading themselves as party leaders by a Federal Capital Territory High Court on Monday.
Instead of lifting the restraining order when the court met on Monday, Justice Hamza Muazu set April 20 to hear all applications in the case, despite an urgent request from counsel for the party’s embattled national officers to have the matter heard as soon as possible.
Alex Ejesieme (SAN), Abure’s counsel, had asked the Court to overturn the interim order and “restore a semblance of sanity, after a forceful takeover of the Labour Party national secretariat by another faction.”
According to the lawyer, the party’s divisions have worsened as a result of the interim order, to the point where four groups in the Imo State chapter of the Labour Party held parallel primaries.
However, Justice Muazu intervened and ordered all parties in the suit to ensure the timely filing of their processes in order for the case to be heard as soon as possible.
Remember that seven members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) announced that Lamidi Bashir Apapa, the LP National Vice-Chairman for the South, would take over as acting party chairman in place of suspended chairman Julius Abure, deepening the party’s crisis.
The NWC members, led by Apapa, based their decision on a decision by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, which barred Julius Abure from parading himself as the party’s National Chairman.
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