Labour Party faction suspends Abia governor, Nwokocha, others

The Labour Party has been battling an intense leadership crisis for a while now which has split the party into two factions.

The Labour Party (LP) says it has indefinitely suspended Governor Alex Otti of Abia State and five others over alleged anti-party activities.

A former senator, Darlington Nwokocha, and a member of the House of Representatives from Abia State, Amobi Ogah, were among those suspended by the LP.

Others suspended were the FCT senator, Ireti Kingibe, a House of Representatives member, Afam Ogene, and another federal lawmaker, Seyi Sowumi.

In a statement signed by its National Secretary, Umar Ibrahim, on Wednesday, the LP said the suspension takes immediate effect and bars the affected members from participating in any party activities.

The LP’s National Executive Council said the decision followed the recommendations of a five-member disciplinary committee set up on 2 May to probe allegations of anti-party activities against the members.

“The disciplinary committee has concluded their assignment and has submitted their report to the party leadership.

“The National Executive of the party met today May 7th, 2025 and after exhaustive deliberation in line with powers donated to it by the party constitution has ratified the recommendation as submitted by the disciplinary committee,” the statement read.

‘Why we didn’t suspend Nenadi Usman’

In September 2024, another faction controlled by the 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi and Mr Otti appointed Nenadi Usman, a former Nigerian minister, to manage the party’s affairs by heading its caretaker committee after the suspension of its disputed National Chairperson, Julius Abure.

But Mrs Usman’s appointment was reversed a month later after a federal court recognised Mr Abure as the authentic national chairperson of the LP.

In the Wednesday statement, the LP explained that the party did not suspend Mrs Usman like others because she is not a registered member of the Labour Party, but a supporter of its 2023 presidential candidate.

“We are aware that she is a member of the Obidient Support Group that worked and is still working for the party’s 2023 presidential candidate. We will therefore not honour her with any sanction being not a member of the party,” the statement added.

The party accused Mrs Usman of lacking the moral authority to comment on corruption.

“She should also tell Nigerians how she acquired her radio station in Kaduna, all her properties all over Nigeria and abroad, her companies in Cameroon, including her plantations. Nenadi Usman lacks the moral capacity to commence any probe or even talk about corruption,” the statement added.

No coalition

The LP also rejected purported plans by some party members to join in the proposed coalition of political parties.

It said those driving the agenda lack capacity, character and competence to midwife such political arrangement.

“These are people who have failed to manage one political party, how can they manage an amalgam of political parties and their varied interests,” the party said of those behind the coalition agenda.

“The Labour Party intends to prosecute the 2027 general election as a stand alone party and no further discussion will be entertained on this matter.”

Background

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the LP has been battling an intense leadership crisis, which has split the party into two factions.

While Mr Abure leads one of the factions, Messrs Otti and Obi belong to another faction of the LP.

The LP’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had sacked the Abure-led executive in September last year and appointed Ms Usman, a former minister of finance and ex-senator representing Kaduna South, to lead a 29-member caretaker committee and facilitate the election of a new party leadership within 90 days.

But weeks later, the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognised Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the LP.

However, the Supreme Court, on 4 April, set aside the judgement of the lower court.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to have affirmed Mr Abure as chairperson of the LP since the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.

It held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.

The court upheld the appeal filed against the judgement by Mrs Usman.

The Supreme Court held that Ms Usman’s appeal was meritorious, as it also dismissed the cross-appeal filed by the Mr Abure-led faction of the LP for lacking merit.

But the Abure-led faction of the LP argued the Supreme Court did not sack Mr Abure and other executives of the party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, claimed that the Supreme Court’s position was that the matter was purely an internal affair of the party, insisting that the court did not set aside the Court of Appeal judgement of 13 November 2024, which affirmed Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the party.

Earlier on 17 January 2025, the Court of Appeal ruled that its earlier decision in November 2024, recognising Mr Abure as the party’s chairman, remained valid and had not been overturned by any court.

Hamma Barka, who read the lead judgement, held that the appellate court did not consider the two separate appeals filed by the appellants since they centred on party leadership, on which the court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate.

He said anything done outside jurisdiction amounted to nullity.

The court voided the judgement of the Federal High Court delivered on 8 October 2024 on the grounds that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit.

Founded in 2002, the LP had its first major performance in a national election in 2023 when it fielded former Anambra State Governor, Mr Obi, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as its presidential candidate.

The party stunningly came third in the presidential election behind the PDP and the APC, which won the poll.

It won in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and in 11 of the 36 states, ensuring for the first time since the advent of the Fourth Republic that no presidential candidate, including the winner, polled up 50 per cent of the vote.

The party also picked up an unprecedented number of seats in the National Assembly and some state Houses of Assembly, and won the Abia State governorship election.

But with the lingering crisis in the party and the allure of the ruling APC, some of its legislators have defected, making the chances of reenacting its 2023 performance or surpassing it slimmer by the day.