TheCable

A federal capital territory (FCT) high court has refused to vacate an interim order restraining Julius Abure from acting as the national chairman of the Labour Party (LP).

Ruling on an ex parte application on April 5, Hamza Muazu, the presiding judge, also restrained three others — Farouk Ibrahim, Clement Ojukwu, and Oluchi Opara — from acting as national officers of the party.

The plaintiffs in the suit marked CV/2930/2023 told the court that the defendants forged several documents of the FCT high court to carry out unlawful substitutions in the last elections.

Following the order, Lamidi Apapa, deputy national chairman of the LP (south), declared himself the leader of the party.

At the court session on Monday, Alex Ejesieme, counsel to Abure, prayed the court to vacate the interim order in order to restore sanity to the party.

The senior lawyer said the division in the party had worsened since the court order such that four groups in the Imo state chapter of the Labour Party held parallel primaries.

The judge, however, refused to vacate the order.

Rather, he fixed April 20, 2023, to take all applications and ordered all parties in the suit to ensure speedy filing of their processes for prompt hearing of the case.