The Julius Abure-led leadership of the Labour Party has dismissed claims that the Independent National Electoral Commission is opposed to its continued leadership, describing such assertions as deliberate misinterpretations intended to mislead the public.
The clarification was made in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in response to comments credited to a faction aligned with Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, and Senator Nenadi Usman.
In the statement, Abure said his attention was drawn to a statement issued by Senator Darlington Nwokocha, whom he described as a suspended party member, claiming to represent an “illegal and non-existing caretaker committee” of the party.
“My attention has been drawn to a statement issued by a suspended member of the Party and a one-time senator, Darlington Nwokocha, where he exhibited his colossal ignorance on the import of the Statement issued by INEC on the reason it withheld the access code from LP ahead of the February 18 FCT Area Council election.
“It is true that INEC, in a statement titled ‘Re: Claims on Access Code for Labour Party in the 2026 FCT Area Council Election’, detailed the judicial progression leading to its decision to withhold the code from the party.
“However, the statement has nothing to do with the leadership of the Labour Party,” Abure clarified.
The statement explained that INEC merely cited ongoing legal disputes arising from the FCT Area Council elections as the basis for its decision to withhold access codes, insisting that the matter was being misconstrued.
“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 Nwokocha, in his infantile, hysterical and uncontrolled emotion, misinterpreted the INEC’s statement to suit his intents,” it added.
The statement further insisted that there was “no vacancy in the National Secretariat of the Labour Party,” while arguing that INEC’s relationship with the party had since been regularised under the current leadership of the commission.
“It is germane at this point to impress here that the new leadership of INEC under Prof Joash Amupitan has since regularised its relationship with the Abure leadership of the Labour Party, having taken over from the famously compromised and controversial immediate past leadership of the Commission.
“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,” Abure said.
To bolster its position, the party listed several engagements with INEC, including invitations to quarterly consultative meetings with political parties, participation in processes leading up to the 2026 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states, and monitoring of the party’s National Executive Committee meetings and congresses nationwide.
The clarification came barely 24 hours after the Nenadi Usman-led faction of the Labour Party endorsed Abia State Governor Alex Otti as the party’s national leader, following the defection of its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The endorsement was announced at a meeting of the faction’s Interim National Working Committee in Abuja and conveyed through a communiqué signed by its factional National Secretary, Senator Darlington Nwokocha.
The development followed Obi’s exit from the Labour Party to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), a move that has further deepened the leadership crisis that has engulfed the party since the 2023 general election.
In the communiqué, the Usman-led faction welcomed INEC’s press release of January 7, 2026, which it claimed reaffirmed the Supreme Court judgment of April 4, 2025, allegedly sacking Abure as national chairman.
Based on that interpretation, it urged INEC “to accord Senator Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington Nwokocha all rights, recognition, and privileges attached to the office of National Chairman and National Secretary of the Labour Party, in strict compliance with the rule of law and the Supreme Court judgment.”
