February 18, (THEWILL) – The last is yet to be heard in the crisis rocking the Labour Party as stakeholders disagree on the way forward. It is an old story that keeps repeating itself since the party gained prominence during the 2023 General Election.
Like fly to ointment, allegations of corruption have continued to dog every political step of the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, since the last general election.
During the election and after it ended, members of the party’s exco had one or two things to say about Abure’s alleged corrupt practices as Chairman. And each time the party’s leaders warned his accusers or showed them the door, leaving him to continue in office. Then after much hue and cry, the party split into two factions till recently when the courts affirmed Abure as National Chairman, thus ending the reign of the Chief Lamidi Apapa-led faction.
Still, the allegations kept mounting. Now, a cumulative total of N3.4 billion is allegedly hanging on Abure’s neck since the end of the general election. According to National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara, an alleged N3.5 billion realised from the sale of nomination forms to aspirants in the general election was salted away by Abure.
As a symbol of the party, allegations against Abure tended to rub off on it and reduce it in the estimation of its members and the public.
According to Opara, Mr Abure’s tenure has been marred by forgery, embezzlement and corrupt enrichment. She alleged that the embattled national chairman depleted the party’s bank accounts, often through fraudulent means, including forging the signature of the late national chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, immediately after his demise.
Unable to endure the accusations any longer, a usually reticent Abure, who had always depended on relevant exco members and stakeholders to defend him, rose to the challenge last Thursday. He denied the allegations and revealed his intention to sue Opara to end the endless allegations swirling around him. He towed the party line on Opara, saying that she was a mole on a mission to destabilise the party.
“She has come to lie and to misinform members of the party in order to bring us and the party to disrepute,” Abure said last week, faulting Opara’s claims that she had had no access to the accounts of the party.
“Those checks were signed between February and March 2021, but these are public documents that you can get from the bank and so you can ask her to bring the evidence that those monies were withdrawn without her signature. Oluchi Opara has been the national treasurer of the party from 2014 till date. I will challenge her to bring all her records from 2014 till 2021 before I assumed office in 2021.
“I must make it clear that I have never at any point in time stopped or prevented Oluchi Opara from carrying out her duties as national treasurer of the party. Today, it is no longer in vogue that people pay into the treasurer’s account. People do direct transfers.
“I must also put on record here that it is not true that the party has collected over N3.5 billion. I need to make it clear that we already have audited reports made by a certified auditor of the party who has reviewed all the records and we have all the audited statements of accounts from 2022 to 2023. The total money that entered the party between 2022 and now is N1.3billion. We also got N700 million which were the campaign funds that went straight to the campaign organisations for the campaigns. So, I didn’t know and I cannot reconcile where she got the N3.5 billion that she talked about.”
He named the banks warehousing the party’s accounts as Zenith, Fidelity and UBA and then the signatories himself, Opara and the National Secretary.
Abure also debunked the claims that he has plans to run for the governorship position in Edo State.
“In Edo State, for instance, I must say here that I am not interested in the governorship race and I am not going to run. I feel like the process must be transparent, open and competitive. I feel that the reason we have bad leadership is because all other political parties lack internal democracy. Therefore, the best cannot come out of the political parties. That is why in Edo State, i have that responsibility to do that for the people of Edo so that they get the best.”
THEWILL investigation shows there is an underlying source of the allegations. Abure, according to sources, is beginning to be seen as a sit- tight national chairman who wants to continue in office anytime the party’s National Convention is held. For those party officials opposed to this move, calling the man to account is one way to prepare the ground for his ouster.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifo, thinks the party had given Opara a chance to clear her allegations, but she rebuffed it.
He said the party summoned Opara to appear before a disciplinary committee set up by the National Working Committee, NWC, last Wednesday. Of course, she rejected the summons because as THEWILL found out, she felt that the committee would be prejudicial to her allegations and present her with a fait accompli. Expectedly, the party on Wednesday suspended her for six months.
Ifo described her absence as an affront to the party’s leadership and “millions of our members who are watching how their party’s image, which they have laboured hard to build, is trolled by one ingrate.”
Ifo added, “The disciplinary committee has, however, recommended to the National Executive Council of the party through the NWC that Ms. Oluchi Opara be suspended from the Labour Party for a minimum of six months. This suspension is with immediate effect.”
He alleged that Opara had been fraternising with factional members of the party led by Lamidi Apapa, following similar but unproven allegations against Abure.
The suspension of Opara without subjecting her allegations to investigation has however opened another dimension to the crisis.
Some party officials, according to investigation, say her suspension without subjecting her allegations to proper investigation is too drastic and unfair.
Supporting this view at the weekend, a former Acting National Chairman of the party between 2020 and 2021, Mrs Maria Labeke, said the party ought to audit its account, following Opara’s allegations rather than suspend her. “Whoever is found guilty should be dealt with.”
OBI WADES IN
In the heat of the crisis, the presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, got his election campaign committee to release expenditure for the 2023 elections and this move doused the tension in the party.
According to the Chairman of the FundRaising Team of the Obi/Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation, Aisha Yesufu, the organisation received N595.9 million from Nigerians and spent N774.5 million on litigation. The breakdown is as follows: N575, 976,994.00 from donations’ N800,000, 000.00 from Obi. It spent N268, 374, 330.00 for campaign materials; N16, 422, 866.00 on media.
Others are N10, 808,948.00 for election promotion materials; N324, 381, 700.00 on polling unit agents; N1,750, 544.00 on bank charges; N477,000. 00 on administrative charges; N744, 500, 000. 00 on legal expenses; N28, 500, 000. 00 on campaign and election activities. The balance is N19, 238,395. 00.
NLC Declares 2-Day Nationwide Protest Over Economic Hardship, Insecurity
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared a two-day nationwide mass protest for February 27 and 28, 2024, over biting economic hardship and the deteriorating security situation in the country.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, stated this at a press conference held on Friday at the Labour House headquarters of the Labour movement in Abuja.
Ajaero said the protest will begin a week after the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum it issued to the Federal Government which will expire on February 23.
He said the decision was made to protest the current hardship being faced by Nigerians.
THEWILL reported that the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had on February 8, threatened a nationwide strike.
The organised labour lamented that millions of Nigerian workers are facing hunger, erosion of purchasing power and insecurity due to reforms that drove up inflation.
Ajaero said the Federal Government should not flout the deadline of the 14-day ultimatum.
About the Author
Amos Esele is the Deputy Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
