- Labour Party Crisis: Abure Faction Protest At INEC Headquarters.
- Recognised LP leadership disowns protest, calls organisers “political impersonators.”
- Supreme Court ruling still drives deepening Labour Party leadership crisis
The Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) staged a protest at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, accusing the electoral body of excluding its candidates from the list for the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections and several National Assembly bye-elections.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that chanting solidarity songs and holding placards reading, “INEC should respect the rule of law” and “Supreme Court judgment favours Julius Abure,” the protesters demanded that INEC reverse its decision.
Security operatives maintained a heavy presence around the premises as the demonstrators marched, insisting that the electoral body was undermining Nigeria’s leading opposition party.
However, the recognised leadership of the Labour Party disowned the protest. In a statement by Ken Eluma Asogwa, Senior Special Adviser on Media to Interim National Chairman Nenadi Usman, the party described the demonstrators as “political impersonators.”
“The said protest is not sanctioned by the Labour Party. The organisers are unknown to the party’s leadership, and the action lacks approval or backing,” the statement read.
The leadership also defended INEC’s decision, citing the April 4, 2025 Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that Abure’s tenure as LP chairman ended on June 8, 2023. The party maintained that the candidate list submitted by Abure’s faction was “illegitimate.”
The Labour Party has been embroiled in a prolonged leadership crisis that escalated in July when the National Executive Committee, chaired by Governor Alex Otti, appointed Nenadi Usman as Interim National Chairman and Darlington Nwokocha as Interim National Secretary.
