A prominent member of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Callistus Uju Okafor, has determined that the Nigeria Labour Congress leadership and Barr Julius Abure, the party’s national chairman, are to blame for the current conflict inside the party.
In a conversation with journalists, Okafor, a former deputy national chairman of the party under the late A.A. Salaam, made this claim.
He declared: “The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Abure faction were the causes of the crisis in our party.
“We and some stakeholders had in the interest of peace called for a true and thorough reconciliation within the party but certain persons were not interested in peace.
“Why would meetings called to address these issues exclude stakeholders such as myself, Lamidi Apapa and groups such as the Trade Union Congress (TUC). How would such a meeting translate to a lasting peace and progress of the party in the future.
“I and my supporters have done everything to ensure that we put the interests of the Labour Party before any personal interests and that is why I have insisted that we are ready to make any sacrifice for the party, a party some of us have invested our resources and our time in.”
He added that, “Sadly, our gestures have not been reciprocated by certain forces who have decided to play the politics of exclusion.
“For example, instead of calling for such meetings where everyone will air their grievances and perhaps get some of us to sheathe our swords and embrace a lasting peace, you see these people who are supposed to do the right thing exclude people like us.”
“Then you look at the likes of Abure who tricked his way to make himself National Chairman go on to organise a fake convention deviating totally from the rulings of the court which called for an enlarged convention. Thankfully INEC didn’t observe the sham they called convention,” Okafor said.
