August 26, (THEWILL) – The Labour Party (LP) has again, alerted its members to alleged plans by the Julius Abure-led faction of the party to hold another national convention to legitimise his leadership.
“Abure is seeking to Conduct a second convention in five months instead of the statutory four years circle to legitimise his leadership”, Chairman of the Labour Party National Transition Committee (LP-NTC), Comrade Abdulwahed Omar, alleged in a statement on Monday.
THEWILL recalls that Abure had in March, held an elective National Convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, where he and other members of his National Working Committee (NWC), re-elected themselves.
While the Labour Party and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), denounced the convention and suspended Abure, he was recently (July) walked out of a consultative meeting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) holds every quarter with Chairmen and Secretaries of registered political parties.
Speaking on Monday, Omar emphasised that Abure has been suspended from the party. He warned party stakeholders to be wary of the planned convention, which he said, is going to ridicule the party after INEC and leaders of the party including Peter Obi, have condemned and rejected the Nnewi convention.
Omar also disclosed that INEC is enforcing the rejection of Abure as National Chairman of the Labour Party. He said the Edo State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Anugbum Onuoha, handed the register of voters and other sensitive election information for the September 21 governorship election in the state, to the party’s candidate Olumide Akpata, instead of Mrs Elizabeth Ativie, who Abure appointed party Chairman in Edo State.
“Both actions of INEC above clearly underscore that before the law, anything touched, handled, processed, organised, conducted or contaminated by Mr Julius Abure and or his assigned minions is political leprosy before the law and will end in disastrous nullity akin to the classic precedents of our often referenced Zamfara and Plateau state electoral disasters of 2019 and 2023 respectively.
“That with all the above incontestable evidences of Julius Abure’s tenure expiration, rational thinking persons must wonder what still emboldens him and his co-conspirators against the peace and progress of Labour Party.
“Abure and his faction were being financed by the ruling party to organise a national convention, and promised to fund the court processes that would follow against the genuine one to be conducted Labour Party.
“The goal of the scheme is to ensure maximum anarchy of internal rancour designed to tear and disintegrate the Labour Party to ‘hopeless shreds’ so that by 2027 general elections, the Labour Party would be a feckless shadow of itself incapable of posing any electoral challenge to the chaos sponsoring ruling political party.
“In return for their mission, the providers of trouble capital would endow Abure and his team ministerial and senatorial slots in 2027”, he stated.
