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Julius Abure Sacked As Party Chair, As Former Finance Minister Takes Over The Helm

The Labour Party (LP) has sacked the national chairman of the party, Comrade Julius Abure, and members of the National Executive Committee (NEC). The party set up a 29-member caretaker committee, with the former finance minister, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, as chairman and Hon. Darlington Nwokocha as secretary.

The decision was the outcome of the “duly constituted” NEC and expanded stakeholders’ meeting hosted in Umuahia by the governor of Abia State, Mr. Alex Otti, the party’s only governor.

The meeting, chaired by the presidential candidate of LP in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, was well-attended by prominent party members, including all LP federal and state lawmakers.

Abure and his allies were not at the meeting.

The stakeholders insisted that Abure’s tenure had expired in June, hence, he no longer had any legitimacy to continue in the capacity of national chairman.

A five-point communique read by the LP 2023 deputy governorship candidate in Plateau State, Hon. Edward Pwajok, said the membership of the committee reflected “various interests and tendencies” in the party.

The critical interests include the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Senate, House of Representatives, Houses of Assembly, and the governorship candidates of LP in 2023.

According to the communique, the caretaker committee “should immediately ensure” that the congresses of the whole party were conducted at ward, local government, state and national levels “as soon as possible”.

The caretaker committee would preside over the affairs of LP in the next three months within which new leaders would emerge from ward to national levels after the party congresses.

The stakeholders enjoined “all party members to support the caretaker committee to carry out its mandate”.

Obi commended Otti for his efforts to reposition the party by ensuring that the meeting held as planned.

He said, “We consulted and discussed” before agreeing on the need to convene the expanded stakeholders’ meeting in order to resolve the troubling issues affecting LP.

The former Anambra State governor told his party members that they already knew “my own position” in the crisis rocking the party.

Obi said because of the position he had taken, “I have been called all sorts of names. Some said I’m not serious; some said I’m weak and should not present myself again as presidential candidate.”

He stated that unsavoury utterances from people will not change his position.

Obi added, “But I want due process to be followed. Whatever we are going to do in future, I want everybody to be free to participate in it. In going forward, let everybody learn to sacrifice for the party.”

The LP national leader spoke in a conciliatory tone. He said the meeting was not meant to suspend or sack party members, hence, “nobody would be secluded after this meeting”.

Usman said the caretaker committee had been saddled with “a big responsibility”.

But she assured the party stakeholders and elders that the committee would work to put LP back to its proper footing.

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Gunmen abduct Kwara APC chairman’s wife, daughter in midnight raid

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have abducted the wife and daughter of Alhaji Muhammad Swasun, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The victims, identified as Hajiya Fatima and her daughter Amina, were seized on Sunday, September 7, at night when a five-man armed gang stormed the party chairman’s residence in Sakpefu.

Eyewitness accounts revealed that the attackers scaled the compound fence and opened fire indiscriminately to terrify residents before breaking into one of the rooms.

“They entered into one of the rooms where they found his wife and daughter and took them away, shooting into the air,” a party executive told reporters, adding that the chairman narrowly escaped being kidnapped himself.

Another APC member confirmed that the gunmen operated for several minutes before whisking the women to an undisclosed location.

“The bandits abducted his wife, Hajiya Fatima, and his daughter, Amina, and took them to an unknown destination,” the source explained, according to Vanguard.

The latest abduction has heightened anxiety in Patigi, a region already grappling with recurring cases of kidnapping.

Residents have repeatedly urged the government and security operatives in recent months to intensify efforts to curb the menace.

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Ace Comedian Ali Baba evicted from Victoria Island property over legal dispute

Veteran Nigerian comedian Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, has been evicted from his luxurious, multi-million-naira property located in Victoria Island due to a court dispute.

The property, which was purchased for ₦220 million by Ali Baba, is the subject of an ownership dispute at the Federal High Court.

Amid the legal dispute, Ali Baba and his company, XQZMOI TV, were evicted from the property located at 324A Akin Ogunlewe Street.

The eviction was carried out by bailiffs of the Federal High Court following a writ of possession signed on August 15, 2025.

The property in question was initially sold to Ali Baba by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in 2021 for ₦220 million.

At the time, AMCON claimed it was recovering debts allegedly owed by Harold Expansion Industries Nigeria Limited.

But Harold Expansion disputed the debt and counterclaimed that they had already made repayments. Their lawyer, Benjamin Olayiwola Sadibo, insisted that the property was sold wrongfully.

On July 31, 2025, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court delivered a verdict that changed everything as he dismissed AMCON’s case, ruling that the corporation had failed to provide convincing evidence of the alleged debt.

The Justice stressed that AMCON did not even present a statement of account to back its claims a fatal omission for a creditor. Worse still, AMCON did not file a defence against Harold Expansion’s counterclaim, leaving the court with no choice but to side with the company.

In addition to ordering the property to be returned to the family of its original owner, the judge also imposed ₦500 million in damages on AMCON.

Ali Baba’s culpability in the case came as a result of the timing of the purchase. Records show that he purchased the property while the case was still in court, despite an existing preservation order.

He was said to have been a tenant of the property’s original owner before AMCON evicted the family and sold it.

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Police summon El-Rufai, other Kaduna ADC chieftains over alleged criminal conspiracy

Anti-Open Grazing

The Kaduna Command of the Nigerian Police has summoned former Governor of the state, Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, and other top chieftains of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In the summons letter dated September 4, 2025, the ADC members were invited for questioning over alleged incitement of public disturbance, criminal conspiracy, mischief, and causing grievous hurt.

Signed by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Uzainu Abdullahi, the letter said the invited individuals are required to come and clarify the allegations against them.

“This Department is currently investigating the above-mentioned case involving the following members of your party. You are requested to come along with them to SCID to clarify allegations reported against them by the complainants on 8th September, 2025.

“Mal. Nasir El-Rufa’i, Bashir Sa’idu, Jafaru Sani, Ubaidullah Mohammed, aka 30, Nasiru Maikano, Aminu Abita, and Ahmed Rufa’i Hussaini, aka Mikiya,” the letter reads.

Sani, one of the invited members and ADC North-West Vice Chairman, told Daily Trust that he learned of the invitation through social media.

“Yes, most of us only saw the statement on social media,” he said, declining further comments.

The development followed the heated exchanges between the Kaduna State government and El-Rufai over the violence that rocked an ADC meeting in the state last week.

The government accused the former Governor of plotting to cause destabilisation in the state through provocative actions and inflammatory statements.

In a statement signed by Dr. Suleiman Shuaibu, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, the government said it wouldn’t sit idle and watch El-Rufai plunge the state back into violence, division, and insecurity.

“This Government will not fold its arms and allow a discredited former leader, who left the state in ruins, to ignite chaos and plunge the state into another era of ethno-religious tension, insecurity, and economic stagnation,” the statement read.

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