Abure and Apapa’s dispute over the court’s decision causes the LP problem to worsen

On Thursday, the Abuja-based Appeal Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by Basil Maduka, one of the party’s disgruntled candidates for governor of Imo State, adding a new twist to the upheaval roiling the Labour Party over its ongoing leadership dispute.

On June 23, 2023, the Federal High Court in Owerri rendered a ruling that was the subject of the lawsuit.

Chief Ukaegbu Joseph was chosen by the party executive committee as its official candidate for the Imo governorship election, which is set to take place on November 11, 2023. Maduka had claimed anomalies in the primary process in the lawsuit with number CA/OW/200/2023.

First, second, and third respondents on the survey were the Labour Party, Independent National Electoral Commission, and Joseph.

Justice Joseph Oyewole concurred with the high court’s ruling that Maduka lacked the locus standi necessary to pursue the case when he delivered his ruling, which held that the claim should be dismissed because it lacked substance.

The materials and affidavits that were presented before the court, in Oyewole’s words, “contradicted the appellant’s (Maduka) position.”

The Labour Party’s primary election was held on April 16, 2023, and Ukaegbu Joseph was declared the victor. “He (Maduka) failed to show that he participated in the primary election organised by the Labour Party, which was held on that day, and cannot be heard to complain about the outcome thereof,” said the Labour Party.

Further deciding that Maduka should pay LP and its candidate Joseph the sum of N250,000,000, Oyewole also said that “the other two issues bordering on academic should be discountenance.”

While announcing that Senator Athan Achonu is the party’s candidate for governor, the Abure branch of the party had earlier denied knowing either Maduka or Joseph.

“The Apapa-led group had duped and set up governorship primaries for two members of the Labour Party, Chief Ukaegbu Ikechukwu Joseph and Sir Basil Maduka, after which Ukaegbu won the contest,” the party continued. Because of the false primary’s conclusion, Maduka became incensed and decided to contest Ukaegbu’s election. He filed claims against the “Labour Party” and Ukaegbu.

Apapa stated that the court’s decision had reiterated that Abure was not the legitimate party chairman of the party when the primaries were held when reacting to the verdict while speaking to press in Abuja.

Apapa added that the Federal High Court’s ruling prohibiting Abure from misrepresenting himself as the LP chairman has not yet been lifted.

The Edo State issue is largely related to civil concerns, according to Apapa. Since they didn’t have the right to suspend him, the Excos in Edo suspended him and then took them to court. The ward level comes up when I speak.

“But the FCT (court) restraining order deals with criminal matters and is between the state and Abure, and nobody is above the law,” the judge said. A civil matter and a criminal matter differ in this way.

“The FCT (court) order has not been vacated, and on the basis of that, the Appeal Court reiterated that by the time he held his primary, the restraining order was in place, and as of today, the injunction is still in force. That is what sets the two apart from one another.

The party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, acted against the court’s ruling during the party’s major event that took place in Benin City earlier in the week, the factional leader said, adding that he was always open to reconciliation.

He said, “From the looks of things, you would also agree with me that the day before yesterday (Wednesday), our principal and Abure travelled to Owerri notwithstanding the court judgement against them that Honourable Ikenga was the proper person for Imo State. In accordance with the ruling of Imo State, he moved forward and raised the hands of a person who had been asked not to proceed. In the present, the Appeal Court has also confirmed it. I’m not sure if he’ll reiterate it, or what he’ll do.

However, Abure responded, “It is all fake news,” in a phone interview with The PUNCH. Sending you our official response to the report is what I’ll do now. We are supporting Senator Athan Achonu. According to the lower court, the current situation should continue because it lacked jurisdiction to consider the issue from the beginning.

“However, the judge’s subsequent comments, made after the court had rejected jurisdiction, were the reason we even filed an appeal. Because we didn’t want anyone to use it as a political point of leverage, we decided against contesting it. Now that the court has rejected jurisdiction, it has stated that the appeal is unnecessary. They stated it to be the case. So neither the Federal High Court nor the Appeal Court found in their favour. Yet we are aware that they frequently transport propaganda and other materials.

Also revealed by the LP National Secretary, Umar Farouk, was the absence of any reference to Abure in the appellate court’s decision.

“That report was false,” Farouk declared. In no part of the decision was Abure mentioned. The judgement had no findings. The judgement has just been warped someplace. Farouk said, “It’s wrong.