The Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the Labour Party has once again criticized the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, Abia State Governor Alex Otti, and other party leaders for forming a caretaker committee to assume the party’s leadership.
The latest criticism from the Abure faction, conveyed in a statement signed by National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh on Wednesday, followed the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) refusal to recognize Abure as the party’s chairman, stating that his tenure expired in June 2024.
In the statement, the Abure group accused Obi, Otti, and other party leaders of siding with INEC to undermine the party.
They also criticized the electoral body for its handling of the 2023 elections, expressing dismay that those who were allegedly harmed by INEC’s actions were now supporting the commission against the party.
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“Every Nigerian alive today knows the ignoble role INEC played in the 2023 general election and how the electoral will of the people were dashed. It amazes us that those who suffered from this INEC’s ineptitude in 2023, are now joining forces with the Commission against the Party leadership.
“For these leaders, there is no qualms to leverage on the INEC’s standpoint of illegality to attempt to seize the leadership of the party. We sincerely want to advise these our leaders that INEC is and can never be the model on which to launch their annexation agenda.
“The 2023 saga is still fresh. In one breath, we demonised INEC, in another second, you are fraternizing with them. Is it not paradoxical that some of these leaders who were victims of INEC’s dereliction and mismanagement of the 2023 general election are now the ones quoting INEC, and joining forces with it, just to victimize the leadership of the Labour Party. Is it not seemingly absurd that the INEC you are embracing today and welcoming with open arms is the same INEC, which betrayed us during the last election?
“I ask, where was this loyalty when INEC failed to protect the will of the people in 2023? Let us not be fooled, my friends. INEC has not changed, and come 2027, they will once again serve you the portage with the same dish,” the statement read in part.
Ifoh emphasized that the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice J.K. Omotosho, had ruled that the Labour Party’s national convention held in Nnewi on March 26, 2024, was valid and conducted in accordance with the 2022 Electoral Act and the party’s constitution.
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He affirmed that there is no current vacancy in the party’s leadership, stating that the next convention to elect a new executive won’t occur until 2028.
At a meeting convened two weeks ago by Governor Alex Otti, attended by Peter Obi, as well as some elected Senators and House of Representatives members, a 29-man caretaker committee was formed.
The Minister of Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, was named as chair of the committee, while Senator Darlington Nwokocha, the former Deputy Senate Minority Leader, was appointed as secretary.
The committee has been tasked with organizing an election to establish new leadership within 90 days.
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