We’re yet to make a decision on LP leadership crisis, says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is yet to take a position on the leadership dispute within the Labour Party (LP).

A report earlier claimed that INEC has reinstated Julius Abure as LP chairman and Umar Farouk as secretary of the opposition of the party on its website, based on a court directive.

However, in a statement issued on Thursday, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary (CPS) to the INEC chairman, described the reports as false and misleading.

Oyekanmi said the reports also wrongly suggested that INEC had reinstated a certain person as national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), based on entries on its official website.

“Our attention has been drawn to some media reports claiming that the Commission has recognised certain persons as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP),” the statement reads.

“The reports also inferred that the Commission has restored a particular individual as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), referring to the listings on the Commission’s official website.

“However, the reports are false and misleading. The Commission has not made any decision in respect of either the LP or PDP.

“The names of the National Officers of the LP had previously been uploaded to our website following a court order, not related in any way to the latest judgement of the Supreme Court. In the same manner, the name of the National Secretary of the PDP on the same website was neither deleted nor reinstated.

“As a law-abiding institution, the Commission is carefully studying the judgement of the Supreme Court on the Labour Party and will communicate its decision to the public in due course.”

The LP has been embroiled in a leadership crisis, with Abure and those in his faction on one hand, and the caretaker committee led by Nenadi Usman on the other, laying claim to the leadership of the party.

In a verdict, a five-member panel of the apex court unanimously held that the appellate court lacked the jurisdiction to have affirmed Abure as chairman of the LP since the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.

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