Appeal Court Fines Julius Abure N10m For Impersonation As Labour Party Chairman, Reaffirms Nenadi Usman Leadership
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has declared Senator Nenadi Usman as the sole, legitimate leader of the Labour Party (LP), while slamming a N10 million fine on former Chairman Barrister Julius Abure for impersonation and ridiculing the judicial process.
The unanimous decision by the three-member panel last Thursday firmly dismissed an appeal filed by Abure.
Calling Abure’s appeal a parasitic waste of judicial time, the court dismissed it with prejudice and slammed him with a N10 million cost.
The Justices described his legal challenge as utterly devoid of merit, and upheld an earlier Federal High Court ruling that had already cast Abure aside and handed the reins to Usman.
It reaffirmed the January 2026 Federal High Court decision that reaffirmed the Supreme Court ruling that the Labour Party convention that returned Abure as National Chairman was fraudulent, null and void.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi gave a scalding rebuke, holding that Abure was trying to resurrect a corpse.
The Supreme Court, Justice Oyewumi noted, had already ruled and there was, and is, no legal basis to reopen a matter long laid to rest.
It compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Nenadi Usman as the party’s leader.
The court ruled that the Federal High Court had acted well within its constitutional powers when it forced the electoral umpire to stop playing politics and actually perform its statutory duties.
The judges accused Abure of a blatant abuse of court process.
They specifically called out his shameless forum shopping: dragging the same dead issue before another court as if the Supreme Court had never spoken
The judges said Abure’s continued claim to the chairmanship was not just misguided but an act of defiance against a settled legal position.
Senator Usman called the judgement a victory not for herself, but for democracy and the rule of law.
Usman thanked long-suffering party members for their patience during the months of the Abure-induced chaos and urged all stakeholders to finally focus on rebuilding a party that had been held hostage by one man’s delusion.
The Labour Party’s caretaker leadership, now firmly under Usman, called on Nigerians to keep faith as it limbers up for the 2027 general elections.