The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) members’ picketing of the Labour Party’s national secretariat and several state offices last week gave the turmoil roiling the party a hazardous new twist.
There are also hints that Julius Abure, the party’s national chairman, has been abandoned to his fate by Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, and his followers, known as Obidients.
This has something to do with the internal party crisis that has been roiling since the results of the general elections in 2023.
Following a slew of court cases involving the party’s factional chairman, Lamidi Apapa, Abure has been making headlines for financial misconduct and other unsettling matters.
Abure’s unending alleged financial scandals
Recalls that in February 2024, Peter Obi demanded a comprehensive, forensic investigation into a charge of theft made against Abure, the party’s chairman.
The former governor of Anambra made the call in reaction to claims made earlier by the party’s national treasurer, Oluchi Oparah, that Abure had purportedly embezzled N3.5 billion.
In addition, Oparah said that in the run-up to the September 2024 governorship elections, the National Working Committee, directed by Abure, was closely collaborating with both the Edo State Government and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Similarly, the party voiced worries over ongoing scandals and fraud charges in a letter signed by Comrades Titus Amba and Chris Uyot, the chairman and secretary of the NLC Political Commission.
Labour Party administration under Abure
Recently, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and other party stakeholders accused Abure of leading the LP as a “sole administrator.”
Recalls that Dr. Theophilus Ndubuaku, the Deputy President of the NLC Political Commission, stated that the choice to picket the party’s headquarters was made to voice the workers’ complaints against Abure’s leadership style. This was made during the workers’ recent occupation of the Labour Party headquarters in Abuja.
He declared, “Now that it’s in the hands of this usurper, he wants to acquire forms for N30 million, N40 million, and so on, without including the party founders. Regarding the expense of governorship interest and nomination, Comrade Bello Ismail, the NLC’s acting general secretary, stated, “Enough is enough. Abure must go.”
Likewise, the union criticized Abure for not adhering to Labour Party doctrine in a letter signed by Comrades Titus Amba and Chris Uyot, the chairman and secretary of the NLC Political Commission, respectively.
Controversial national convention
Due to his purported plan to hold the National Convention without following the proper procedures, the troubled LP Chairman has been in the news again recently.
According to sources, the National Working Committee (NWC), directed by Abure, was charged with organizing the party’s national convention, which was scheduled for March 27 in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State.
A notice sent on March 13 to the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, included information about the planned convention.
Critical parties, like the NLC and the House of Representatives Caucus, opposed the move, though, and last week there was picketing at the party headquarters as a result.
Remember that the NLC’s political section, the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission, denounced the proposed convention in an open letter dated March 15.
The commission declared the scheme unconstitutional and stated that it would not tolerate any illegality in the party’s operations while calling for Abure’s immediate resignation.
A source who spoke to newsmen on Saturday on condition of anonymity, alleged that Abure’s intention was to impose leadership on the party.
He said major stakeholders in that party were against the March convention, stressing that the party needs more time to select its leaders.
“Everybody in the party including our leader, Peter Obi is tired of Abure’s leadership. If we are not in court today, we will be in the news for one allegation or the other.
“The time we need to use to prepare for elections like the ones coming up in Edo and Ondo is used in settling disputes.
“Abure knows that everyone wants him out and the next thing he wants to do to remain relevant in the party is to impose a chairman on the party.
“How can you be talking about conventions and stakeholders of the same party are not even aware? The Labour Party is not Abure’s personal company”, he said.
Search for new chairman begins
On Saturday, rumors circulated that Comrade Isaac Balami, a former deputy national campaign manager for the Peter Obi/Dati presidential campaign from the Northern area, may succeed Abure.
An source informed reporters that following a discussion, a few party chieftains and leaderships proposed Balami to be the party’s next national chairman.
When reached by phone, Balami informed our correspondent that he was “under pressure to run for the chairmanship of the party,” but that his announcement was still pending due to certain circumstances.
According to him, he doesn’t even know whether the convention will be held as scheduled as “there are forces fighting against the unity and progress of the party”.
“But then, I can’t refuse or turn down a request coming directly from the youth constituency of the party.
“You know they were instrumental to the change in the political narrative and advancement of the Labour Party in the last election, so we can’t joke with their position.
“I truly appreciate their commitment to the success of our party and I won’t take their call for granted.
”In a couple of hours, we shall make our final decision on this matter.”
It was reported that the former All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain had prior to the 2023 general elections, dumped his party for the LP, saying he believed in the ideology of the party and its candidate, Mr Peter Obi.
Speaking on the controversy surrounding the convention, Dr Yunusa Salisu Tanko, Chief Spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council for the 2023 election, told newsmen on Saturday that Abure failed to carry the stakeholders of the party along in the planned convention.
He said, “all we want is for us to build a political party we all will be proud of. A part that will represent the interest of everybody.
“We have all that it takes to build the structure of the party. That is the best thing that can happen to us as a party.
“We don’t want a closed convention like the Chairman is trying to have. Because it is likely going to be a closed convention instead of an open convention and that is not good for us.
“Many people did not even know that there was going to be a convention. I was not aware of the convention too. I saw it in the newspaper just like any other person.
“This is what NLC is also saying. Nobody is against any particular person but for us to have a convention that all of us will be proud of. Peter Obi has also said that the convention should be open for everybody.”
Asked to clarify the viral report purporting Peter Obi’s decision to dump the Labour Party ahead of the 2027 presidential elections, Tanko simply said, “It is not true. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing like that”.
