Ousted National Chairman of Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, has dismissed allegations of a violent invasion of the party’s national secretariat, instead accusing the rival Senator Nenadi Usman-led group of being the real culprits behind a “break-in” at the headquarters.
This comes just hours after the Usman-led faction, which is now recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), held a world press conference where they formally petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to prosecute Abure and eleven others for alleged armed robbery, theft, and assault.
In a swift response signed by National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh, the Abure-led Labour Party described the accusations from the Usman camp as “fallacious” and “laughable,” insisting that the narrative presented by Senator Usman inadvertently indicted her own group.
“The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been drawn to an unsigned Press Conference purportedly by one Nenadi Usman and her cohorts which talked about the invasion of the Labour Party’s national headquarters. We need to state very clearly, that the tone of the press conference was not only fallacious and laughable but one that must be dismissed with a wave of hand,” the statement read.
The fresh hostilities stem from events in the early hours of Tuesday, 10th February 2026, at the party’s secretariat in Utako, Abuja. While the Usman faction claims its officials were victims of a “nighttime raid” by armed thugs working for Abure, the Abure camp flipped the script, demanding to know how the rival faction gained entry into the building in the first place.
“For re-emphasis, we have already told the whole world how about 1am on that fateful Tuesday, February 10, how some persons scaled the fence to pull down the party’s billboard and illegally erected billboards belonging to Ms Usman. Nenadi Usman made a grand entrance shortly before noon with full police protection,” Ifoh stated.
The Abure leadership questioned the legality of the Usman faction’s access to the offices, emphasizing that at all material times, the secretariat was under their control.
“Key questions to ask Nenadi Usman is how did they get access into the office? This is because at all the material times till the time they invaded the office, the party was under the control of Barrister Julius Abure… When they entered the office, who gave them access to the offices? Was there a formal handover from Abure to Nenadi?” the statement queried.
The faction further alleged that sensitive items could only have been taken if the new group had illegal access, noting, “For instance, the chairman’s key was with the chairman, how did they get access to the chairman’s office as to determine what was and what was not in his office.”
Clash of Legal Mandates
At the heart of the dispute are conflicting interpretations of the current judicial pronouncements. The Usman-led faction cited a Supreme Court judgment of 4th April 2025 and a Federal High Court order of 21st January 2026 to back their claim as the valid leadership, declaring that Abure and his associates are engaging in “impersonation.”
However, the Abure camp maintains that the legal battle is not over. “As far as we know, we did not hand over the Secretariat to Nenadi Usman and there was actually no need for that because there was a judicial proceedings ongoing and until the final determination of the matter at the appellate courts, he can not claim to be the rightful possessor of the office. We have since stayed the execution of the judgement of the lower court,” Ifoh explained.
Allegations and Counter-Allegations
The Usman faction had painted a grim picture of the incident, alleging that armed invaders held gatemen at gunpoint, destroyed billboards, and carted away sensitive documents, financial records, and electronics.
In response, the Abure-led leadership dismissed these claims as an attempt to cover up what they describe as a premeditated illegal takeover. “Nenadi Usman is being clever by half but the long arms of law will soon catch up with her and the other renegades,” the statement warned.
The Abure camp announced that it would soon address a press conference to respond to what it called “filthy and baseless allegations,” promising to present a recent police report and forensic analysis regarding previous charges of forgery leveled against some of its leaders.
As both factions dig in, the Nigeria Police Force now finds itself in the middle of a heated political war, with one side demanding the arrest of Abure for invasion and the other accusing the Usman camp of burglary and malicious damage.
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