The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Labour Party (LP), under the leadership of Comrade Julius Abure, has rejected what it views as its purported dismissal by the Political Commission of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
According to the LP, the NLC body lacks recognition within the LP constitution, thus lacking the authority to convene a stakeholder meeting, let alone make a decision as significant as ousting a legitimately elected party leadership.
Addressing the issue in Abuja on Tuesday, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, emphasized that it’s widely known that the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, harbors a long-standing aspiration to assume the position of National Chairman within the Labour Party.
Ifoh said, “Since he knows that he cannot win a free and fair contest at a convention, he has chosen to use the back door to achieve his ambition.
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“We have news for him, the LP is governed by laws and by our constitution, the convention is the highest decision-making body of the party because it is only at the convention that the decisions of the National Executive Committee (NEC) can be ratified.
“What Ajaero and his Political Commission attempted to do yesterday was to arrogate to themselves powers they do not possess.
“They claimed to have sacked the Comrade Julius Abure-led National Working Committee of our party after holding an illegal assembly of a handful of aggrieved former members.
“The sponsors of the gathering are known. They were given the mandate to destabilise the opposition, especially the LP, which has become a threat to the desire of the current All Progressives Congress (APC) regime to stay in office beyond 2027.
He said the leadership of LP would have ignored illegality but chose instead to set the records straight in the interest of ordinary Nigerians and genuine party supporters who may fall victim to the misinformation being churned out by the NLC.
Ifoh said, “Ordinarily, we would have ignored the illegal act, but for the need to set the records straight and to prevent genuine democracy-loving Nigerians and supporters of our great party from being misled, we offer a few clarifications.
“First, the Political Commission of the NLC is unknown to the Labour Party, as it lacks powers to convene a meeting of “stakeholders” to deliberate, let alone take any decision that will have a binding effect on a legally constituted party leadership.
“Since you cannot build something on nothing, the gathering itself lacks legitimacy, and as such, decisions reached remain an enterprise in futility. They are null, void, and of no effect.”
According to him, Abure’s record at the helm of affairs speaks for itself. He noted that there was no denying the fact that it was under his leadership that the party won the highest number of elective positions at the state and federal levels.
Asked whether the party leadership had plans to seek legal redress should those claiming to have sacked it persist in their claim, he said, “We will seek legal protection if the need arises; we are a law-abiding entity with a trained lawyer as our leader.”
“It is on record that the Labour Party recently had a very successful national convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, where party officials were elected and given the sacred mandate to build on the successes recorded by our party in the 2023 general elections.
“There is no disputing the fact that the Abure-led NWC led the party into becoming a national brand. With the support of members and Nigerians across the length and breadth of this great nation, the party now boasts some senators, members of the Federal House of Representatives, and state assemblies. Need we talk about the pace-setting governor of Abia State, Alex Otti?
“If not for the various acts of electoral malfeasance perpetrated by enemies of Nigeria, our presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, would have been president today. Do we begin to talk about cases of daylight robberies of our governorship mandates in Enugu and other states?
“We have a collective responsibility to rebuild our party, and as the leader that he is, Comrade Abure has offered his hands of fellowship to all genuine party members to come on board to partner with him and give Nigerians a truly democratic platform to pursue their dreams of a better Nigeria, which we all know is still possible.
“As a law-abiding party, we will seek the protection of a court of law should the need arise. We, however, appeal to our teeming supporters to remain calm because, in the end, justice will prevail.”