Speaking to newsmen after the closed-door meeting, Turaki said that the party was being repositioned to reclaim its status as Africa’s largest political party and return to its “winning days.”

He described the visit as an essential step aimed at introducing the new NWC members to Sambo as well as to brief him on the prospects and challenges facing the PDP after its recently elective National Convention in Ibadan.

Turaki said that the former vice president provided generous advice and guidance on repositioning the party as a formidable winning platform.

“The most important thing for us this evening is the assurance that His Excellency has given us that he is and will continue to remain a member of the PDP.

“His excellency had assured us that very soon that he will become more active than he used to be.

“He assured us that should there be anything at any time that requires his attention, that we should not hesitate to run to him and he will be up and doing. He will be there for us.

“We are happy that the leaders behind the PDP’s past successes are firmly with us,” Turaki stated.

He expressed confidence that with the backing of the party’s founding fathers, the PDP was on course to win upcoming elections, including the FCT Area Council polls and the off-season governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States.

Asked if former President Goodluck Jonathan would be contesting on the party’s platform, Turaki maintained that the party had already decided to zone its presidential ticket to the Southern part of Nigeria.

He said that while the party did not yet know who the specific candidate that would emerge, the process would be open, transparent, fair, and equitable.

“If for whatever reason, anybody wants to contest, we want to assure you, Nigerians, that you will be the deciders of who becomes your candidate,” he said.

Reacting to the dismissal of Samuel Anyanwu’s case at the FCT High Court, Turaki described the judgment by Justice M. Umar as a “vindication” for the PDP family.

He argued that the court’s decision reinforced the principle that the judiciary should not meddle in internal political party matters.

“The judgment has vindicated us that we are the genuine leaders of PDP and that our convention was legitimately done.

“People cannot just go into a corner and ascribe leadership to themselves. This is a political party.

“This is not a market association, neither is it an association of shoe-shiners. This is a political party, and there must be discipline,” he said.

On how the party is accelerating its various court cases, Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, explained that the party had fulfilled all necessary legal filings.

He noted that the NWC was currently waiting for the President of the Court of Appeal to decide whether a local or special panel would be set up to determine the appeals.

“We are now in a position where all briefs are in, and we’re waiting for the president of the Court of Appeal, in her own wisdom, to decide which panel, whether it’s going to be a local panel here in Abuja or a special panel that will be set up that will now sit and determine these appeals.

“Again, whether these appeals will be taken simply, or they’re going to be consolidated by the Court of Appeal, is something that is absolutely within their discretion.

“For us, we have fulfilled all righteousness. We’ve done everything that we need to do. We’re waiting for this to be given for us, for our lawyers to go and argue our appeals,” Turaki said.

Says Enough is Enough

By Mike Odiakose, Abuja

The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has condemned the reported abduction of over 150 worshippers from churches in Kaduna State, saying such an incident would have prompted decisive national action in a serious country.

Obi, in a statement posted on his X handle on Wednesday, questioned the credibility of those who initially denied the incident and threatened to punish individuals accused of spreading false information.

“Since it has now been confirmed that over 150 worshippers were kidnapped from churches in Kaduna, where and how did those who denied the incident initially get their information?” Obi asked.

He also queried who would be held accountable following the confirmation of the kidnappings.

According to him, the scale of the incident demands clear communication, visible leadership and urgent national response, stressing that leadership goes beyond the quest for power.

“In any serious country, this would trigger decisive national action, clear communication, and visible leadership,” Obi said, adding that leadership requires speaking out when citizens are in pain and acting swiftly when lives are at risk.

He called for immediate efforts to secure the safe and unharmed release of all victims, while urging authorities to confront Nigeria’s persistent insecurity more decisively. “Enough is enough,” Obi stated.

By Mike Odiakose, Abuja 

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, sacked Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP).

In a judgement that was delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, the high court relied on the April 4, 2025, verdict of the Supreme Court to declare a former Minister of Finance, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, as the valid leader of the party.

Consequently, the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to forthwith recognise the Senator Nenadi Usman-led Caretaker Committee as “the only valid authority to represent the Labour Party,” pending when the party convenes a national convention.

The judgement followed a suit marked: THC/ABJ/CS/2262/2025, which the former minister lodged before the court.

Aside from Abure, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) was also cited as a defendant in the matter.

Justice Lifu held that evidence before him established that Abure’s tenure as the national chairman of the LP had since elapsed.

While dismissing Abure’s contention that the matter was an internal affair of a political party, which is non-justiciable, the court held that the setting up of the LP Caretaker Committee was “a necessity” that arose from the Supreme Court’s order.

It will be recalled that following a leadership crisis that rocked the LP, the National Executive Committee, NEC, of the party resolved to remove Abure as the National Chairman.

To fill the leadership vacuum, the party constituted a 29-member caretaker committee, with the former Finance Minister, Usman, as Chairman.

The decision was the outcome of an expanded stakeholders’ meeting of the party that was hosted in Umuahia by Governor Alex Otti of Abia State.

The meeting at which Abure was sacked from office was chaired by his former ally and the party’s 2023 presidential election candidate, Mr Peter Obi.

Dissatisfied with the decision, Abure approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to validate his position as the National Chairman of the party.

In an affidavit he personally deposed to in support of the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1271/2024, Abure told the court that following the death of the National Chairman of the LP, he was lawfully elected as the Acting National Chairman of the party at a National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of the party that held in Benin City, Edo State, on March 29, 2021.

He told the court that on April 18, 2023, at the NEC meeting of the party held in Asaba, Delta State and duly monitored by INEC, it was resolved that tenures of State Chairmen whose tenures had expired be renewed.

He said it was at the same meeting that some members who were engaged in anti-party activities were expelled and replacements for vacant positions created as a result of the expulsion were made.

Abure averred that in line with a consensus that was reached at the meeting, the party subsequently held its National Convention on March 27, 2024, at Nnewi, Anambra State, where he was lawfully elected to the office of National Chairman of the LP.

He said the party under his leadership produced candidates for governorship elections in both Edo and Ondo states.

While both the high court and the court of appeal upheld Abure’s case and ordered INEC to recognise him, he was however dislodged by the Supreme Court which nullified the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts

In its lead judgement that was prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro, the apex court allowed the appeal that was filed by Chairman and Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Senator Usman and Hon. Darlington Nwokocha, respectively.

The Supreme Court equally dismissed a cross-appeal that was filed by Abure, even as it enjoined political parties to always abide by their own rules in the appointment of their officers.

It further implored officials of political parties whose tenures have elapsed to learn to vacate their positions.