Despite the crisis rocking the opposition Labour Party (LP), its legal adviser, Kehinde Edun, says the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, is still with the Julius Abure camp.
Obi was at the meeting convened by Governor Alex Otti of Abia State in September 2024 where former Minister Finance, Nenadi Usman, was appointed to lead the party until new leadership is elected to replace Abure.
However, the High Court and the Court of Appeal subsequently ruled that Abure remain the chairman of the party
Edun, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, said Obi still relates with the Abure-led leadership of the party regularly and has not at any time stated that he was leaving the party.
Asked if Obi is back with the Abure camp of the party following the court judgment, Edun said, “I believe so. He has not made any categorical statement about it, but he speaks with us all the time and he has not said he has left the party. He is with us, that is what I know and believe.”
Acknowledging that the crisis in the Labour Party is causing damage to the party, the legal adviser assured members of the party that the leadership is making efforts to resolve the crisis.
“We know that there is a crisis in the party because of the way they are making it to look, but we are making efforts to reconcile to make everybody come, and we still have time to do that.
“We have never picked a fight with anybody. We didn’t go to court against Nenadi, we went to court against INEC and the court resolved the dispute and they said they want to join. We have never sued any member of the party,” Edun said.
The Appeal Court had last Friday reiterated that Abure remains the National Chairman of the Labour Party.
A three-member panel of the appellate court in a judgement delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, held that its judgement of November 13, 2024, which recognises Abure as national chairman subsists and has not been set aside by any court.
Justice Barka made the declaration while delivering judgment in two separate appeals filed by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman and the caretaker committee and the electoral umpire.
The appellate court in the two separate appeals held that it did not delve into the issue of the leadership of the Labour Party, because such issues are not justiciable.
