The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) said none of the people who currently advocate for Labor Leadership (LP) are officially recognized by the election agencies.
Amid the growing internal crisis of the party, the clarification is the source of four factions led by Julius Abure, Senator Nenadi Usman, Lamidi Apapa and the Political Committee of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC).
INEC said it has not yet recognized the National Working Committee (NWC) led by ABURE or the National Career Commission chaired by Usman. The committee noted that it is still reviewing the recent Supreme Court decision that ruled that the leadership dispute within Labor was an internal matter that the party itself would resolve.
Tensions escalated two days ago when Abure-led factions announced a moratorium on Abia Governor Alex Otti, Senator Ireti Kingibe and three House members. Afam Victor Ogene, Amobi Godwin Ogah and Seyi Sowunmi cite so-called anti-party activities. The suspension was rejected by the caretaker leadership, who formed another team to investigate financial misconduct within the NWC. The House’s LP caucus also condemned the move, accusing abuse of attempts to destroy the party.
INEC responded to media reports that it has recognized that certain people are the president and secretary of the LP. In a statement by Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, the commission said: “Our attention has been drawn to some media reports claiming that the Commission has recognized certain persons as the National Chairman and National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP). The reports also inferred that the Commission has restored a particular individual as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), referring to the listings on the Commission’s official website.”
“These reports are false and misleading. The committee has not made any decisions regarding the LP or PDP. The names of the national officials of the LP have been uploaded to our website on our website as ordered by the court, in relation to the latest court’s latest judgment. Same as the latest judgment. In the same way, the committees on the same website do not belong to the committee’s committee. The Supreme Court’s judgment on Labor and will communicate its decision to the public in due course.”
In response to the suspension of Abure’s factional issuance, lawmakers Ogene, Ogah and Sowunmi issued strong wording statements in Abuja, accusing abuse of attempting to forget the party. They described their suspension as “ridiculous” and described it as “emperor”, clinging to power.
“Now, for everyone in all the recent events of Labour, our former President Barrister Julius Abure’s desperate move is not alone,” the statement said. “It’s totally ridiculous that Aber, who failed to show moral integrity during his tenure as President, now claims to have the right to approve the power to approve party leaders. Only in Abure’s twisted reality can those with suspicious roles rule others.”
“In the real world, his Supreme Court removed leadership position has reduced him to a selfish, shameless impostor driven by personal interests. A political party is designed to participate in the specific goals of the democratic process, especially the competition for power.”
Legislators question what has been achieved by abuse since the party’s election momentum in 2023: “What has Abure and a group of his promisers done to strengthen the party’s fate since the Peter Obi effect in 2023?
“From Kogi to Bayelsa in Edo, to Edo, what Abure did was to make the party disastrous. Everything they showed was a party held as a criminal enterprise, and they grabbed the aspiring cash of hard cash in exchange for party tickets.”
“Even in his native Edo, he was dragged to the floor like an ordinary felon due to the controversy over the use of representative funds, and excessive deception and selfish abuse could not even win his voting unit for the party.”
They ended with a harsh rebuke: “Which self-esteem party president is busy running around the media house like a boy in the press? Last time it announced Sir O’Jion’s sack and replaced with the leader of the core Circle, and when that didn’t work, he sought only one pending party. His burial plan and integrity as a civil servant and political leader.”
