Chairmen of the Labour Party (LP) in 36 states of the federation have alleged that the current leadership crisis in the party was orchestrated by ‘big parties’ which are afraid of the possible outcome of presidential election petition tribunal.
They said the ongoing disaffection within the party was aimed at scuttling Mr Peter Obi’s effort ‘to reclaim his stolen mandate” and not targeted at Mr Julius Abure, its national chairman.
They made their position known through the Nasarawa State chairman of the party, Mr Alexander Ombugu, in Lafia yesterday.
Post-election crisis hit the party which shut itself to the position of the third strongest party in the country due to its impressive outing during the last presidential election.
A local chapter in Edo State had suspended Abure over what the party at the national level said were “spurious allegations of wrongdoings”.
The crisis took another dimension on Thursday after the national vice-chairman of the party (South), Lamidi Apapa, announced himself as the acting chairman.
However, Mr Ombugu said Abure remained the national chairman of the party recognised by all the state chairmen across the country.
He said the Apapa faction was being used by the opposition parties to sabotage Obi’s chances at the tribunal, while vowing that the party would resist such move at all costs.
He said; “We are aware that the present crisis in the Labour Party is being sponsored by other political parties to spoil the chances of our party in the ongoing presidential election tribunal so that Mr. Peter Obi will lose focus in continuing with the case.
“The other political parties know that he won the February 25 presidential election with a landslide but the irregularities which occurred during the electioneering process including the non-transmission of results to the Independent National Electoral Commission results viewing portal made another candidate to be announced as winner of the election.
“And because they know that the court is the last hope of the common man, and seeing that we are hopeful to reclaim our mandate, they decided to come up with all these plans by sponsoring some persons to cause disaffection in the Labour Party.
“But we want to let them know today that no matter what they do, we will continue to remain loyal to our national chairman, Mr. Julius Abure, and give him the needed support to take our party to greater heights. So, we are calling on all our supporters across the country to remain committed to the growth of the party and not be deterred by the activities of those who are sponsored to cause setback in the party.”
He urged the judiciary and security agencies not to allow themselves to be used by greedy and desperate politicians who do not mean well for the nation.
“At a time like this, members of the judiciary and security agencies are likely to face intimidation from politicians who are greedy and desperate. We want to urge them to continue to discharge their duties according to the laws guarding their professions, because we all have to put Nigeria first in everything we are doing,” he added.
Following the skirmish that took place at their national headquarters on Thursday, 28 state chairmen of the party yesterday took over the national secretariat in Utako, Abuja and declared allegiance to Barrister Julius Abure.
Abure had in a statement said the party was attacked by thugs working for the APC with the help from the police.
But 28 chairmen of the party led by their spokesman, High Chief Kehinde Rotimi, stormed the secretariat and forcefully reclaimed it.
Speaking to journalists at the secretariat, Rotimi said: “We were amazed at the report that hoodlums and thugs invaded our party secretariat at Utako, that is why we came.
“They destroyed properties, carted away our documents, committed all sorts of atrocities that are not in tandem with the rule of law.
“We were told that they went to court and took a particular order but they did not wait for the court to determine whatever motion of notice, they took laws into their hands to come and destroy our secretariat.
“That is why we as a very important organ of NEC, the council of chairmen in the party which constitute the NEC along with the members of our party have decided to come here to do an on the sport assessment and on getting here we discovered that these sets of hoodlums, some of them have been suspended and are no more members of our party.
“Some of them sold our party to other political parties. The party is still investigating to see that they have violated our rights as a political party and they have gone all around to intimidate us with security agencies, “ Rotimi said, adding, “We are saying that we cannot be intimidated, we cannot be cowed. The Labour Party has come to stay in Nigeria, we want to advise all political parties to allow us, leave us alone.
“We want to tell all the security agencies not to turn to political party members, because the police are not party members so they should do what is right according to the rule of law.
“You cannot be a judge in your own case. They want to be judges in their own case by taking the law into their own hands and that is why we are here with our entire members from all over the country to counter this obnoxious and evil move to derail us from pursuing the mandate that Nigerians have given to us.
“Nigerians gave us their mandate on the 25th of February 2023 and on that mandate we stand. That is why we believe in the rule of law and that is why we have gone to the tribunal.
“Instead of creating diversion and division in our party we will not agree. That is why we are telling the whole world we have begun the legal process on this evil and barbaric act, “ Rotimi said.
Labour Party chairman for Enugu State, Barr Cashmir Uchenna Agbo, said: “What is happening here is very unfortunate because the Labour Party is a party of rule of law.
“Our principal has maintained that we must be guided by the constitutional provisions and the laws of this land and the party.
“It is very unfortunate that those who have run this party for many years are engaging in acts of brigandage and criminality in terms of enforcing their own right.
“The position of the party and the mechanism in the resolution of crisis is very clear, in the constitution, you have to exhaust that mechanism in court. You go to court and obtain court order and you want to enforce that order by yourself. It is very unfortunate because there are frivolous provisions of the act.
On his part, the Labour Party chairman for Edo State, Ogbaloi Kelly said: “I am here to say that the NWC is a subordinate organ to the NEC of the party therefore, when a faction of it is coming here to take laws into its hands it becomes a total nullity.
“When those who are taking this action are members of the party who have since been suspended by the party, and at the time they took this action, the suspension had not been lifted and therefore, we are saying here that the 36 chairman around the states have come to take their possession.
“These miscreants led by Apapa to this place are not people who have authority to control this matter but this detachment here has the authority in law to be in charge of the party and we affirm that Comrade Barr Julius Abure, is the party chairman and it remains so.
“NLC as of today has confirmed that and we have come here to tell the people of the world that the action of this faction is a total nullity and should be disregarded because the action does not follow the content of the rules and constitution of the Labour Party.
“We have 28 chairmen here now. Anambra, Edo, Ekiti, Sokoto, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Ebonyi, Delta, Kwara, Benue, Ondo, Nasarawa, “ he added.
The DPO in Utako, Gregory Victor, said the police took over the secretariat to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
He blamed the party chairmen for coming to take over in a commando style, adding that if his men were not on ground and there was lawlessness, they wouldn’t have taken over.
In another development, the new Labour Party National Working Committee (NWC) under the leadership of Alhaji Lamidi Bashir Apapa, has declared its unwavering support for a new Nigeria under the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
The NWC also vowed to reclaim Obi’s ‘mandate’ through legal and peaceful means allegedly denied by INEC during the 2023 general elections.
A statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Abuja signed by the national publicity secretary of the party, Dr. Arabambi Abayomi, urged Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to have faith in the NWC.
He said Apapa had stated that the NWC and NEC would unveil detailed strategies aimed at recovering the people’s mandate now before the presidential election tribunal.
The statement reads in part: ‘’In compliance with the FCT High Court interim injunction order that restrained Mr. Julius Abure and three others from parading themselves as national officers of the Labour Party on 4th April, 2023, the new Labour Party National Working Committee under the able leadership of Alhaji Lamidi Bashir Apapa, has declared its unwavering support for a new Nigeria and the LP-Peter Obi 2023 presidential election victory mandate recovery denied it by the INEC declaration.
“The acting national chairman has assured Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to have fate in the new national working committee, NWC, and its leadership to achieve the desires of Nigerians for a progressive, prosperous, and stable Nigeria.”
He urged Peter Obi and the entire stakeholders of the party and Nigerians to be steadfast as the leadership of LP is committed to recovering the mandate at the presidential election tribunal.
“Alhaji Lamidi Apapa stated that the LP NWC and NEC shall unveil detailed strategies aimed at recovering the peoples’ mandate that is now hanging before the presidential election tribunal.
“NWC pledges to unveil its national programs that will impact on the welfare and wellbeing of Nigerians and Nigeria going forward and enjoy party members to conduct themselves in a civilized manner at all times,” he added.
