Supreme Court judgment: Twist in LP crisis as Lamidi Apapa seizes party leadership

Ongoing leadership tussle between the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee and the Nenadi Usman Caretaker Committee, backed by Governor Alex Otti and LP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, on Wednesday, took a new dimension with the seizure of the party’s leadership by factional leader Lamidi Apapa.

Apapa, who had gone underground in the past year, announced on Wednesday that he had taken over LP leadership following the release of the Certified True Copy of last Friday’s Supreme Court judgment.

Recall that the Supreme Court in its recent judgment, set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had recognised Abure as the party’s national chairman.

Apapa claimed that the apex court verdict puts him in pole position to replace Abure as the most senior National Deputy Chairman of the party.

The factional chairman disclosed this in a statement signed by the factional National Publicity Secretary, Dr Abayomi Arabambi.

IApapa also announced in the statement that his National Working Committee, as of 2022, will officially meet next Monday (14th April 2025) to discuss zoning arrangements.

The statement read, “Following the dismissal of the cross-appeal filed by the ousted former National Chairman, Bar Julius Abure, also by the Supreme Court on 4th April 2025, what this means is that all actions and decisions taken by Julius Abure since 4th April 2023 are null and void.

“Following the decision of the Supreme Court to set aside all judgments that recognise the leadership of Julius Abure as National Chairman, I, Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa, the most senior deputy national, and in consonance with our party constitution, Article 14 2(a)(b), hereby take over the running of the affairs of our great party with effect from today, in an acting capacity, and Alh Farouk Umar Ibrahim as National Secretary.

“My leadership hereby calls on all members of the Labour Party that the National Working Committee of our party as of 2022 will meet next week, Monday, 14th April 2025, to announce our plans, which will include zoning the position of National Chairman to the North and National Secretary to the South.”