Labour Party which is currently ranked the third force after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC is still enmeshed in crisis and analysts believe this may mar the chances of its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, in the February 25, 2023 election, if the crisis is not nipped in the bud.
The crisis in the party is both at the state level where Lagos, Ogun and about 18 other state chapters are entangled in crisis with all the belligerent parties maintaining their hard stance and with no sign that peace would resume soon.
The party sensing the danger ahead has set up an 11-man committee to placate and reconcile disgruntled members of the party to form a united front ahead of the 2023 elections.
The committee will be headed by Chief Friday Toyin Ibadin as LPSPC Chairman and Dr Kenneth Diyoke as Secretary. Other members include General Enang Essien (Retd.), AIG Charles Ugomuon (Retd.), AIG Ezekiel Zang (Retd.), ACG Akubiron Chika, ACG Ali Wakili, Obol Okomiso, Samuel Emma, SP Ego Eseimo and Mrs Comfort Okorokwo.
At the height of the crisis, the National Working Committee of the Party last Friday terminated the appointment of its acting National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, and dissolved the Ogun State chapter of the party over the role they played in the alleged expulsion of the Director General of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Dr Doyin Okupe.
This is even as the NWC passed a vote of confidence in the leadership of its embattled National Chairman, Julius Abure, saying it has reviewed all the corruption allegations levelled against him and found him not culpable.
Okupe and 10 members of the party were removed by the leadership of the Ogun State chapter of LP over what they called “non-financial membership status, political rascality and misappropriation of funds. Though the decision was annulled by the leadership of the party in Abuja.
Abure claimed that the state executives had no locus standi to remove him.
According to him, the party can no longer condone such anti-party activities among its rank and file.
He said, “The acting National Publicity Secretary has been relieved of his appointment by the National Working Committee. A disciplinary committee has also been constituted to investigate his anti-party activities as a member of the Labour Party.
“The Ogun State chapter of the party has also been dissolved and the chairman and its exco suspended. A caretaker will be appointed to take care of the party’s activities in the state. They will also be investigated by the disciplinary committee for anti-party activities.
“The NWC has also unanimously passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of the National Chairman, Julius Abure. Consequently, we call on the party members to adhere strictly to the provision of the Constitution and Code of Conduct of the party. We also call on the general public to have more confidence in the party as the leadership of the party is working very hard to ensure that we are not distracted. The bad elements and the Judas among us will be fished out gradually and punished in accordance with the Constitution of the party.
“We also called on Nigerians to disregard any negative information spread by some miscreants as the party’s loyalists; whereas we have found out they are acting out the script of our opposition.”
It could be recalled also that penultimate Thursday, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Dr Abayomi Arabambi through his lawyer, Kaiser Oghenetejiri petitioned the Deputy National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Lamidi Apapa, that the National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure engaged in fraudulent activity and obtained money under false pretence.
In the petition, a copy of which was made available to THEWILL, Arabambi through his lawyer said “We write this petition against the National Chairman over the allegation of obtaining money under pretense and defrauding of candidates and aspirants who obtained nomination forms to contest under our great Party. The office of our client has been inundated with complaints and reports from candidates of the Party who claimed that they have been defrauded by the National Chairman. The complainants informed our client that they are ready to come forward and give evidence with documentary proof”.
Also, the National Secretary, Uman Farouk has also through a statement accused Arabambi of having frustrated the efforts of the party in submitting the names and particulars of candidates from Ogun and Lagos states to the INEC.
In a statement he titled: “Who is Abayomi Arabambi Working for? Farouk said:
“First, at the conclusion of the party primaries, in line with the directives of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, forms of the party’s candidates are supposed to be uploaded to INEC’s Portal. As a ranking member of our party from the South-West, Mr. Arabambi was tasked with handling the candidates from both Lagos State and his home State, Ogun for the House of Assembly and governorship. The party didn’t know that he had ulterior motives and never had the intention of submitting the forms. He frustrated the arrangement and made sure that no name was uploaded.
“When the party found out and queried him, he apologised and promised to take the matters to the court with a view to getting INEC to accept the forms. At this point, the *distraught* party began to suspect a foul play and on closer monitoring, it was realised that the matter was not diligently pursued in the courts leading to the matter being dismissed at the Federal High Court.
“The party was going to wield the big stick for dereliction of duty but again he pleaded that he would appeal the judgment and had also given a firm assurance that the forms will be uploaded.
“It was on the basis of that, that he was given the permission to pursue those cases on behalf of the party to the Appeal Court. He once again lied to the party that there was valid appeal on the two states, Lagos and Ogun but unknown to the party, he never filed any appeal proper, though he filed notice of appeal for Lagos but he didn’t *consummate* it, there were no documents, no evidence before the court.
“When the party noticed that he was playing pranks, and that he was merely deceiving the party, it quickly contracted another lawyer who *pursued* the case and got judgment in Lagos within three weeks. And *thereafter* when we saw what happened in Lagos we instructed other lawyers to take over the cases in Ogun for diligent prosecution. That is how the Labour Party got the list of its candidates uploaded in the INEC portal”.
“Every party member ought and should be happy that the party now have candidates in Lagos, having gotten that judgement, but this is not so with the *party’s so called spokesperson* I therefore ask, ‘Arabambi is not APC, he is not PDP member, why is he angry that his party got a judgment that enabled INEC to recognise candidates of his party? Which sane person will be fighting his own party? His reactions and actions on the judicial success of the party which he initiated, defeats any logic. So who is he working for? Is he now working for or against the *Labour Party?*
“And now for him threatening to go to court to challenge the judgment in favour of his own party, a party where he ought to be an image maker tells you clearly that he is completely compromised. He has been detailed to frustrate the party from getting candidates to field for elections in these areas. That he has instituted action against the Party’ victory in the Supreme Court is in his determination to ensure that the Labour Party does not have candidates in Lagos and Ogun states. The inference that you can draw from his actions is that he is compromised because there is no other means to justify his current position”.
Farouk warned against anti- party activities by the members.
He said “Let me reiterate that any member of the party who is proven to be a hireling planted to sow discord in the party will soon have a date for judgement. We can’t afford to behave like other political parties we are working hard to upstage. Meanwhile, we will not be distracted by any mechanistic actions of a few. Our eyes are on the ball, 2023 will be the end point”.
The decision of Obi, a former Presidential aspirant under the PDP, to pick the Labour Party’s presidential ticket threw the party into national limelight. And before you know it, the party started drawing membership from the two major parties, PDP and the APC. Obi himself was a former Vice Presidential Candidate of the PDP in the 2019 election.
The new position of the Party also brought its problems. Competition emerged for its candidacy and working committee both at the states and at the national level and this led to crisis in many of the state chapters.
For instance, the Taraba State LP is embroiled in crisis following the suspension of the state chairperson, Mrs. Esther Gulum.
Party leaders who suspended her from office over the alleged misappropriation of a whopping N20 million in campaign funds, also unanimously passed a vote of no confidence on her.
The collective action which came last Tuesday indicted her of running the party as her family business, alongside her relatives.
Briefing media practitioners in Jalingo, the Labour Party’s Organising Secretary, Peter Philip, said the party have lost confidence in her leadership, hence the suspension as well as the passing of the vote of no confidence.
The suspension from office, according to Philip, is to enable the party executives carry out a thorough investigation into how the said amounts of money were “misused by her.”
The aggrieved executive members also accused her of engaging in anti-party affairs including being an employee of the state government and using her personal accounts to run the affairs of the party in the state.
They alleged a “lack of accountability and transparency in running the affairs of the party in the state” claiming she constantly disobeys the party constitution since taking the leadership position.
Though her suspension, according to Philip, is for six months, they vowed to work round the clock to unravel the mystery behind how the amount which was designed for the presidential campaign was expended.
In her reaction, the party’s chairperson did not only deny the allegations but described them as false, saying the executives were out to witch hunt her for being a woman.
She said” the executives are only out to witch-hunt me because I am a woman. I am not a corrupt leader”,
Gulum urged those pointing accusing fingers at her to thread extra legitimate miles to prove the allegations being levelled against her.
“It is childish and false to say I was given N20 million by Peter Obi’s campaign council and I embezzled it, I was not given N20 million, I was given only N9 million and I used it judiciously with a clear record.
“It is also false to say I am running the party office with my immediate family and I am doing anti-party.
She asked the National Secretariat of the party and all supporters to disregard the information as it is purely false, targeted at tarnishing her good image and that of her family.
“I am a loyal party woman and I am Obedient”, she said.
In Lagos State, the former state chairman and governorship candidate, Professor Ifagbemi Awamaridi whose name was first submitted to the INEC was later styled a placeholder with the party while the national leadership of the party searched for a more popular candidate.
The party organized a primary in which Rhodes-Vivour, a former PDP Chieftain emerged as the candidate
Awamaridi headed to court to challenge his removal as both party chairman and governorship candidate in Lagos.
Efforts to settle the matter out of court have not yielded the desired results.
Awamaridi denied there had been a settlement, insisting that his group within the party had also held a congress where he was re-elected state chairman for another four years.
He also said he remains the party’s governorship candidate in Lagos State ahead of the 2023 polls.
“My name was in the INEC list, the question is how did they change the name? They went to produce a fraudulent document that I had withdrawn my candidacy for somebody else.”
He accused the party chairman in the state, Kayode Salako, of working for the APC in the state.
Salako, who is a former APC member, has been accused of working for the APC in the state.
Salako’s wife, known actress, Foluke Daramola, is popularly known as a supporter of the national leader of the APC, Bola Tinubu.
So with less than four months to the general elections, the situation in the Labour Party is like a theatre of war with many belligerents maintaining their hard stand and not ready for any reconciliation so soon.
How will this affect the party’s chances in the next year’s election only time will tell.
About the Author
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
