STATEMENT FROM THE LABOUR PARTY
The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been drawn to a statement issued by a suspended member of the Party and a one time senator, Darlington Nwokocha where he purportedly claimed to represent an illegal and non existing Caretaker Committee of our party, and wherein he exhibited his colossal ignorance on the import of the Statement issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC on the reason why it withheld Access Code from the Labour Party ahead of the February 18th, 2026 FCT Area Council election.
It is true that INEC in a statement titled
“RE: CLAIMS ON ACCESS CODE FOR LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATES IN THE 2026 FCT AREA COUNCIL ELECTION” detailed the judicial progression leading to its decision to withheld Access Code from the Labour Party, however, the statement has nothing to do with the leadership of the Labour Party.
The INEC statement simply stated that due to the inconclusive legal actions arising from the FCT Area Council election, it would be proper to wait until the cases are dispensed with. But Mr. Nwokocha in his infantile, hysterical and uncontrolled emotion misinterpreted the INEC’s statement to suit his intents. Darlington Nwokocha misconstrued the essence of the INEC’s statement. It has nothing to do with the leadership of the Labour Party. He should know by now that there is no vacancy in the National Secretariat of the Labour Party.
It is germane at this point to impress here that the new leadership of INEC under Prof Joash Amupitan has since regularized its relationship with the Barrister Julius Abure leadership of the Labour Party having taken over from the famously compromised and controversial immediate past leadership of the Commission.
Under the new leadership of the Commission, INEC has remedied the past errors by inviting the Julius Abure leadership of the Labour Party to its quarterly Consultative meeting with the leadership of the political parties. The commission has also involved the leadership in the processes leading to the 2026 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states including issuance of Code for the upload of our candidates. The Commission just few weeks ago sent its senior officers from the Election and Party Management (EPM) as well as Legal departments to monitor the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting. INEC also monitored the congresses of the party across the federation.
It is very obvious that INEC has moved on towards the right direction as it is not an author of confusion. INEC can not approbate and reprobate at the same time. And this is why the leadership of the Labour Party is advising Senator Nwokocha and his NLC appointed NWC to also move on. This is because their master and leader, Peter Obi has gone to ADC, we expect him and his governor, Alex Otti to quickly join Obi and Nenadi Usman into ADC. In any event, they are already on suspension and we don’t regard them as our members any longer.
Let us even assume without conceding that the so called NLC appointed Caretaker Committee was even legal, it is in the public domain that their tenure according to those who set them up has since elapsed having served out two terms. So on what basis are they holding an NWC meeting? In any event, their so-called national Chairman is already in ADC along with their principal Peter Obi, and therefore it is our advise that they quickly join them instead of keeping one leg here and another there.
Labour Party under Abure’s leadership gave Darlington Nwokocha the Senate ticket in the 2023 election which he actually won but due to his negligence, lackadaisical attitude and his incompetence, he could not defend his mandate and was kicked out of the Senate. Our advice to him is now that electioneering is underway, he should make some efforts to sort himself out politically as there is no vacancy at the National Secretariat.
It is also important to at this juncture to reemphasize that no court in Nigeria has set aside the Labour Party 2024 National Convention held on the 27th of March 2024. The Supreme Court’s decision in SC/CV/56/2025 did not remove Barr. Julius Abure as National Chairman of the Plaintiff. The Supreme Court rather affirmed that the leadership of a political party is the internal affairs of the party and a no go area for the courts as it is non- justiciable.
The Supreme Court in allowing the appeal only held that the lower courts should not have made any pronouncement on who is the National Chairman of the Labour Party. The Supreme Court did not say that Barr. Julius Abure is not the National Chairman but only said that no court has the jurisdiction to make any pronouncement as to the leadership of a political party being an internal affairs of a political party.
The Supreme Court only struck out the suit in the trial Court and the Appeal in the lower court because the pronouncement made by both courts on the leadership of the Labour Party was said to be without jurisdiction.
Barr. Julius Abure and Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim names and addresses remain registered with INEC as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the Labour Party.
Finally, we want to use this medium to call on the members of the public to disregard the misleading information. Labour Party is intact with Barrister Julius Abure at the helm. Activities are hitting up and Labour Party being the only ideologically bent party in Nigeria, is already working for better outing for the party.
Sign
Obiora Ifoh
National Publicity Secretary
Labour Party
10-01-2026
