LP: Will the centre ever hold?

As 2027 approaches, the unresolved rift within the Labour Party (LP) has continued to raise doubts about whether the party can regain its stability or remain a fractured force. In this piece, John Ameh examines how the crisis has threatened the party’s relevance and electoral prospects.

As recently as October 23, the two camps in the Labour Party (LP) were at each other’s neck over the invitation the then Ag. Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, extended to Mr Julius Abure to participate in a meeting with political party leaders at the commission’s Abuja national headquarters.

The bone of contention, as stirred by the Nenadi Usman camp, was why the INEC Ag. chair bestowed such a recognition on Abure, whom Usman argued was no longer the chairman of the LP. The engagement was so feisty that Usman demanded the arrest of Agbamuche-Mbu.

Usman’s reaction, contained in a statement by her office, titled, “INEC’s Acting Chair in Criminal Collusion with Julius Abure Over Fake Court Order – She Must Be Arrested”, and signed by her Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Ken Asogwa, noted that the action of Agbamuche-Mbu was a disregard for the April 4 judgment of the Supreme Court, which she said ended the tenure of his National Working Committee (NWC).

 “In her defence, she stated that INEC was merely obeying a court order, claiming that if the faction led by Senator Nenadi Usman presented a valid judgement in their favour, the Commission would comply accordingly.

“However, our independent and painstaking investigation has revealed that no such court order exists.

“While it is true that Mr Abure filed a suit against INEC in Suit No: CV/1914/2025, before Hon. Justice Kayode Agunloye of Court 40, FCT High Court, Gwagwalada, our formal request for a Certified True Copy (CTC) of any order purportedly recognising him as Chairman was met with a categorical confirmation from the court that no such order was ever granted”, Usman said.

The former minister of finance went on to challenge Agbamuche-Mbu to produce the said court order that empowered her to honour Abure with such an invitation.

She added, “The truth is that INEC’s acting leadership has wilfully relied on a fabricated and non-existent order to justify an illegal and politically-motivated act.

“Although it would have still been null and void even if such an order existed, especially in the face of the Supreme Court’s unambiguous judgement of 4th April 2025, which conclusively upheld Senator Nenadi Usman’s leadership of the Labour Party.

In a swift reply, Abure fired back, accusing Usman of day-dreaming by assuming that her interim leadership was known to the LP, calling members of her camp usurpers whose aim was to reap where they never sowed.

Obiora Ifoh, the megaphone of the camp, in crafting the reply, threatened to involve the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in the matter to caution one of its members for alleged derogatory references to court decisions.

He wrote, “The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been called to a press statement purportedly signed by one Ken Enuma Asogwa who claimed to be a media aide to one Ms Nenadi Usman who is claiming to be the National Chairman of the Labour Party even when she is not a member of the party.

“The so-called press statement was a clear attempt to blackmail the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the acting Chairman of INEC, Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu for obeying a validly issued court order. The statement was also crafted to embarrass His Lordship, the judge of the High court and as well to bring the court to public opprobrium and ridicule.

“Ms Nenadi Usman, through her aide, Asogwa, had called for the arrest of Mrs Agbamuche-Mbu for, according to them for ‘criminally colluding with Barrister Julius Abure’ to rightfully carry out her job in line with the laws governing the electoral commission.

“We think that this political zealotry and abuse of privilege was an act carried too far, hence there must be consequences for unguarded and reckless aspersions. Consequently, we have instructed our Counsel to write Mr. Asogwa who is also a lawyer, to within the next 72 hours retract the highly offensive and embarrassing statement without which we will be left with no other choice but to petition him to the Nigerian Bar Association for describing a validly issued order of a court as fake.”

The foregoing is a pip, or summarises the state of affairs in the LP – a house divided against itself- and clearly faces challenges as the next phases of elections up to 2027 come into view. For example, with about three (3) months left to the start of the February 21, 2026 Federal Capital Territory Area Council polls, INEC has neither recognised nor uploaded the names of LP candidates for the polls on its portal! Both camps submitted separate lists to the commission with the result that none has received the blessing of INEC.

Writing in an October 24 letter to the new Chairman of INEC, Professor Joash Amupitan, Abure pleaded for the recognition of his camp of the LP, urging the INEC boss to also upload the names of the candidates.

The letter partly reads, “I do not want to burden you with our challenges as this letter is purely congratulatory. However, I want to use this opportunity to remind you of a pending order of the Court binding on INEC to recognise the present leadership of the Labour Party as led by my humble self, Barrister Julius Abure but which for reasons known to the immediate past INEC leadership was disregarded but for which we are grateful that the Acting Chairman has remediated substantially.

“We are however appealing to you to fully comply with several orders and judgments of the courts by directing the inclusion of the Labour Party in the  upcoming FCT council elections by uploading the names of the party’s candidates.”

In Nigeria’s current political calculations, one area of testing the strength of a platform is the number of political offices it holds and how many more it’s able to attract from other political parties. In the case of the LP, it has lately witnessed the exodus of office holders to other political parties, particularly the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). At the National Assembly, the LP’s impressive 34-member House of Representatives pack has since depleted. The story is not different at the Senate, where from about 8 senators at the inauguration of the 10 Senate in June 2023, the party can now only boast of three (3) senators!

This is not a savoury development for a party keen on making a serious impact at the 2027 polls. For the records, it doesn’t appear any reconciliation efforts or rebuilding of the party as a united front is working, as they remain in tatters, at least for now. Rather than rebuilding, what is uppermost to the two opposing camps is legitimacy battle.

“There is a fundamental issue in the cracks. Where you have each camp insisting that they are the legitimate leadership of the party, there can’t be an easy headway.

“While the April 4 judgment of the Supreme Court put the power to regulate the internal affairs of political parties in the hands of the parties, it is the same court pronouncement that Abure and Nenadi Usman are using to fuel the crisis in the LP”, one party official volunteered.

The official pointed to how the disunity played out and affected the party at the recently-concluded Anambra State governorship poll, which was won by Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

“Anambra, is ordinarily a stronghold of the Labour Party, considering the impact of the 2023 presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, there.

“But, go and check the results of the election. Labour Party, which should have competed strongly with APGA, came fourth and behind the Young Progressive Party”, the official added.

In the outcome of the poll, APGA came tops with 422,664 votes; the

All Progressives Congress (APC), a party hitherto alien to the state, scored 99,445 votes in second position; the  Young Progressive Party (YPP), got 37,445 votes; while the LP secured 10,576 votes.

What is happening in the party today, from available information, indicates that plans for parallel congresses leading to a national convention are ongoing by both camps, a development likely to keep the opposition party in perpetual dispute both internally and with INEC, still raising the question of recognition.

The Abure-led NWC is believed to be forming an alliance with the party’s 2023 presidential running mate, Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, in the absence of Peter Obi, who is currently not fully committed to either of the camps.

Baba-Ahmed was billed to participate in a “Labour Party Global Conference” hosted by the Abure camp on the night of Saturday, November 15, where Obi’s name was not listed. The aim was to promote reawakening, to mobilise support and reposition the party ahead of the next phases of elections. Will the outcome achieve much in the face of the legitimacy challenge?

Speaking on the latest efforts to reposition the party, the Usman camp said the way forward would be for the Abure group to admit that they no longer have the legitimacy to direct the affairs of the party.

“There are things we, on this side, are doing below the level of the radar. Abure is living in a delusion of grandeur. Let him keep deceiving himself and his gang of followers.

“Their strength is not in the LP because there is no authority given to them by the constitution of our party.

“Abure is the pseudo LP wing of the APC”, the Interim National Publicity Secretary of the camp, Mr Tony Akeni, submitted.

“The Nenadi Usman exco remains the one and only authentic one approved by NEC. NLC, TUC, leaders and founders of the BoT are all members”, Akeni added, stating further that “over 90% of members are ready for the congresses and national convention across the 36 states and the FCT.”

When approached for comments, those in the Abure-led NWC disowned the Usman camp on the grounds that the interim CTC the former minister heads is “unknown to the Labour Party.”

“Where did she get her legitimacy from? How many meetings of the state chairmen of Labour Party can she boast of convening?

“See, they are the ones being delusional. There is this wrong narrative they keep passing around that the Supreme Court removed Abure as chairman. The apex court did not remove Abure.

“The court said use internal mechanisms to sort your issues out. That is simple enough to understand. Abure has done that; there is an Exco in place that will transition till our next national convention”, a member of the camp countered.

A journey that started well

In the build-up to the 2023 polls, the LP rose steadily from a position of near-nothingness to give the more formidable All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a run for their money; garnering massive support, especially from among the youth population and many voters dreaming of a total reengineering of the country’s political landscape. The entry into the presidential race on the ticket of the party by former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, strengthened the LP’s hopes, more especially because of Obi’s campaign strategies of highlighting the years of decay under the PDP and the APC, which resonated well with the followers.

Although the LP was derided as the “party without structures”, every inch along the way, saw the LP gathering momentum, as Obi, the Obidients Movement and others registered presence in the 36 states and the FCT. The party almost totally captured the South-East in particular. Emboldened by the success and the sudden trepidation exhibited by the APC and the PDP, the LP saw itself as the likely winner of the presidential race that lined up former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, ex-Kano State Governor, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso, and a host of others.

The LP didn’t win;  as officially declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu of the APC won by polling 8,794,726 votes, while Abubakar was second with 6,984,520. Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes. In terms of percentages, Tinubu got  39 percent of the votes, Abubakar secured 29 percent, while Obi recorded 25 percent of the 93million voters captured as participants. This was clearly an indication of the tightness of the race among the three frontrunners.

Across board, the party, after the conclusion of all electoral processes, including litigation, produced one governor; eight senators (now five); 34 members of the House of Representatives, many state legislators, councillors, etc.

It didn’t escape the notice of Nigerians that a ‘structureless’ party like the LP posted such a performance, firmly establishing it as a future party of choice for voters and the one that would along with the PDP, galvanise opposition politics ahead of the next elections as Obi and the party gained widespread popularity.

Shocks, missteps of the goodwill

Sadly, the LP didn’t appear to be able to manage its success after the polls; it emerged from one phase of a crisis to another, mainly about leadership and control.  There were several, but the most recent is the tussle between Usman and Abure.

On November 4, 2024, at a meeting convened in Umuahia, party stakeholders, according to Otti, in a bid to reposition the LP for the task ahead, named a 16-member NCC headed by Nenadi Usman and given the mandate of conducting congresses up a national convention where new leaders would emerge.

This would also imply an end to the Abure-led NWC, whose tenure was considered to have lapsed.

But, Abure would not buy into this, as he insisted that his tenure was intact and still subsists. In trying to justify his hold on the party, Abure traced how his current tenure came about.

He stated, “The Labour Party held a valid National Convention in 2019, whose tenure was constitutionally due to end in June 2023. In response to the extraordinary demands of the 2023 general elections, our NEC, meeting in Asaba in April of that year, authorised a one-year extension, pushing the end of tenure to June 9, 2024.

“In line with this resolution and the constitution of our party, a fresh National Convention was duly convened and held on March 27, 2024, in Nnewi, Anambra State. All procedures relating to that Convention were properly executed, and multiple court rulings have validated the legitimacy of the Convention.”

This argument didn’t make any impact on the Nenadi Usman NCC, which has consistently explained that Abure has no reason to remain a leader of the LP, having exhausted all claims to the authority of the party.

The Abia governor, Otti, revealed efforts made to woo Abure to abandon his path of fight, saying that at a point, the position of Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) was offered to him. In the alternative, he was advised to wait and recontest the seat of national chairman again after the completion of the rebuilding process and congresses.

“I sat with Abure last year and offered him BoT chairman”,  the governor stated, adding, “I told him that if I were you, I would not want you to lead people who don’t want you to lead them.”

Otti said Abure, who refused to agree to any of the proposals put before him, later opted to go to the courts. In the process, he secured a favourable judgment from the Court of Appeal, which recognised Abure as the national chairman of the LP.

The Nenadi Usman-led NCC, not satisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal, proceeded to the Supreme Court. The apex court, in its judgment delivered on April 4, declared that matters relating to the leadership of political parties were not for the courts to dabble into but must be settled through their internal mechanisms. The court also stated that the decision of the appeal court recognising Abure as the national chairman was null and void.

The main portion of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgment reads, “The 3 issues submitted for determination are hereby jointly resolved in favour of the Appellants.

“In summary, both the trial court and the court below had no jurisdiction to entertain the suit of this 1st Respondent which main relief, as they both rightly observed, was inserted as relief number five (5) as though it was an appendage.

“Consequent upon the foregoing, the decisions of both trial court and the court below recognising Barrister Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the 1st Respondent are hereby set aside and suit  No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024 is hereby struck out for want of jurisdiction.

“In the same vein, the 1st Respondent’s cross-appeal in Appeal No.SC/CV /56A/2025 being an offshoot of the same judgment of the court below, is hereby dismissed.”

The apex court went ahead to “admonish political parties” to always conduct their affairs in line with the provisions of their constitutions.

This judgment, rather than resolve the leadership crisis, has merely escalated it, as the two leading camps are interpreting it to mean that it conveyed legitimacy to them, hence the buzz the LP created in the public space since the judgment was delivered.

In addition to the separate NEC meetings they had held already, each side is calling on the other to join it in rebuilding the party. This is besides the consistent warnings issued by the Abure-led NWC to discipline those in the camp of the NCC if they continue to ignore Abure’s leadership. As if that isn’t enough, Lamidi Apapa entered the fray too, further compounding the confusion in the LP.

While the Nenadi Usman-led NCC argues that the judgment is so simple, even for the unlearned to understand, Abure would have none of this.

He claims that the judgment actually “vindicates” his NWC, which had all the while acted in line with the party’s constitution in every step taken till date.

Abure notes, “The apex court also admonished political parties to adhere to the provisions of their constitutions and the extant laws, especially with regards to the specified tenure of office and for any elected officer of any political party to step down at the end of their tenure for fresh elections.

“This is precisely what the leadership of the party did on the 27th March 2024 when it convened a National Convention to elect new officers of the party before the expiration of tenure in June 2024. The court did not say that our tenure had elapsed.

“The court said that it is the internal mechanism of the party that produced leaders of the party. For the purpose of emphasis, before the expiration of the tenure of the Labour Party NWC elected in 2019 and extended for one year in 2023 and which expiration was supposed to occur on 9th June 2024, a new National Convention was validly convened on 27th March 2024 which produced a new leadership led by Abure and which is currently subsisting.

 “The 27/03/2024 National Convention was in accordance with the 2019 Labour Party Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022, the CFRN and the INEC regulations and guidelines 2022.”

Analysts believe all may not be over for the LP. However, to plan and succeed ahead of the 2027 polls, the consensus is that the camps must end the ego war and agree to work as a united front.

However, Peter Obi, ordinarily the rallying point for this party, believes the problems of the LP, nay the opposition generally in Nigeria, are caused by the Federal Government, which he argued must allow democracy to thrive by allowing the opposition to breathe.

“Look closely at what is happening in the PDP, the Labour Party, SDP, and other political formations—crises deliberately orchestrated by a government that should be embracing everyone so we can unite in this troubling period”, the former presidential candidate said.

He further noted, “I am reminded of a pivotal moment under President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. During an internal crisis in my then-political party, he instructed the INEC Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, that the stability of every political party—not just the ruling party—was essential for democracy. No party was to be undermined; all were to function within the law.

“What we witness today is the opposite. The current government seems more intent on weakening parties than strengthening our democracy—seeking to fragment the PDP, Labour Party, SDP, and others.

“In democratic nations, opposition is respected, elections reflect the will of the people, and governance involves  carrying everyone along for peace and prosperity.”