Julius Abure, the national chairman of the Labour Party, along with Umar Farouk, the party’s national secretary, and Kennedy Ahanotu, the national youth leader, were absent from the party’s stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, Abia State, on Wednesday.
The meeting was convened by Abia State governor, Alex Otti, to address the party’s ongoing leadership crisis.
Despite the absence of Abure and other key officials, notable figures such as the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, his running mate, Datti Baba Ahmed, and Senator Victor Umeh from Anambra were in attendance.
Abure had earlier warned Otti to refrain from meddling in party administration and focus on governance.
Nonetheless, the stakeholders present at the meeting issued a communiqué establishing a 29-member caretaker committee, chaired by Senator Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington Nwaokecha as secretary, with a 90-day mandate to resolve the leadership crisis.
The communiqué also highlighted concerns over the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not recognising any leadership within the party.
Consequently, the committee was tasked with organising ward, local government, and state congresses that would culminate in a national convention to elect new party leaders.
The communique reads, “The NEC of the party together with other stakeholders from all over the country came together to look into the vacuum created by the expiration of tenure of the National Working Committee since June 10, 2024.
“This meeting has resolved to set up a caretaker committee to be headed by Senator Nenadi Usman, with Darlington Nwaokecha as the secretary and seven other members drawn from all over the country.
“The meeting also advised party members to withdraw all pending litigation in court against the party.
“The committee has the responsibility to ensure that ward and local government and state congresses are conducted all over the country, which will culminate in a national convention where the party will elect new leaders and the National Working Committee.
“The party was concerned that INEC, which has the legitimacy of monitoring the activities of political parties, didn’t monitor the convention that returned the National Chairman.
“You journalists know that on two occasions, INEC has said that LP has no leadership. So we can’t leave the vacuum. We want to elect a leadership that would be recognized by INEC.”
However, the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) swiftly rejected the outcome of the meeting, calling it null and void.
In a statement by Obiora Ifoh, the party’s national publicity secretary, the opposition party criticised Otti’s involvement, accusing him of overstepping his boundaries and lacking the authority to convene such a meeting.
Ifoh further argued that the caretaker committee was not recognised by the party’s constitution or Nigeria’s electoral laws.
He said, “The so-called meeting in Umuahia is a charade, a waste of time and resources of Abia People. As clearly stated in our previous statement, the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, and others who converged on Umuahia have no power within the party’s constitution, the Electoral Act and even within the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to convene any meeting of the party.
“The premise on which Governor Alex Otti called the meeting is not only faulty but mischievous. The government business is not transacted verbally but through official communication and correspondences which are done in writing. As we speak, there is no communication whatsoever from INEC to the Party as regards any objection to the conduct of the National Convention.
“We challenge Alex Otti to produce the official letter addressed to him from INEC on the subject matter. There is no vacuum in the leadership of the party. Consequently, the so-called caretaker committee set up by the governor of Abia State is not known to the constitution of the party and can best be described as a department in the Abia State Government House.
“We are shocked to note that the so-called chairman of the caretaker committee is not a registered member of the party. She surfaced during the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign to assist Peter Obi in his carmpaign.”
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