With the three tendencies in the crisis-ridden Labour Party, LP, rigidly holding on to their positions, the reconciliation meeting called by Governor Alex Otti of Abia State in Umuahia for Thursday, September 4, 2024 may go up in smoke.
Pained by the cold shoulder that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, gave the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, by not inviting him to the Commission’s last week’s third quarterly meeting with political parties, in addition to his humiliation at two previous quarterly meetings when he was asked to leave the gathering, Governor Otti invoked his powers as a leader of the party to host a reconciliation meeting on the impact of the lingering leadership crisis in the party, which INEC’s faux pas had so dramatised.
THEWILL’S investigation showed that Abure and his National Working Committee are expected to attend the Umuahia meeting alongside the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero and General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja; President of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Festus Osifo and General Secretary, Nuhu Toro, governorship candidates of the party during the 2023 General Election and the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
“We may not attend the meeting because we are yet to be properly invited,” National Publicity of the party loyal to Abure, Obiora Ifo told THEWILL on Friday, adding that, “in fact, the only problem we have that I know of is with INEC. They stopped inviting us to their functions.”
Ifo’s predecessor, who later became spokesperson for the Comrade Lamidi Apapa led-faction that was sacked by the Court of Appeal in March, 2024, Abayomi Arabambi, on Friday tagged the Umuahia meeting called by Governor Otti as illegal.
Arabambi said, “That will be an exercise in futility. Abure is not going to attend the meeting, I can confirm that. Only he can convene such a meeting, according to the party’s constitution. Governor Otti is a leader in the party, but he has no powers to summon a meeting. Obi is not a member of the National Executive Committee, NEC, nor is he a member of NWC.”
The Campaign Spokesperson of the LP presidential committee, Tanko Tinubu, disagrees. He told THEWIIL that Obi is a moral leader of the party, having rebranded the party by his personality and it was because of his stand in the party that he met with Abure and his exco members, as well as the NLC leadership in an attempt to bring the warring factions to the conference table to resolve the crisis.
He said, “On July 10, 2023, according to a 2021 agreement, Abure’s tenure had expired. That was why INEC refused to invite him and LP to three of their quarterly meetings with political parties in Abuja.
“It is a failure on the part of INEC, which witnessed the agreement to administer a written letter to say that Abure’s tenure had expired and so the party should deal with the matter based on the dispute resolution agreement we mediated. That would have been a clear decision that would have shut everybody up and prevented this crisis we are experiencing now.”
ENTER THE LABOUR PARTY NATIONAL TRANSITION COMMITTEE, LP-NTC
Efforts made by THEWILL to reach the NLC transition Committee Chairman, Abdulwaheed Omar, former NLC president, failed as he could not be reached for comments. But a close aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Abure’s tenure as National Chairman of the party had elapsed and the Labour Party National Transition Committee, LP-NTC, would not tolerate his presence any longer.
In a statement made available to THEWILL by the aide, the LP-NTC stated that intelligence revealed that Abure was planning a membership registration/validation, congresses and national convention.
“Anything touched, handled, processed, organised, conducted or contaminated by Mr Julius Abure and or his assigned minions is political leprosy before the law and will end in disastrous nullity,” the LP Chairman, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar was quoted as saying. His committee alleged that Abure’s actions are part of a scheme to disintegrate the Labour Party and ensure that it poses no electoral challenge to the ruling political party in the 2027 general election.
“The goal of the scheme is to ensure maximum anarchy of internal rancours designed to tear and disintegrate the Labour Party to ‘hopeless shreds’,” the LP-NTC stated.
THEWILL recalls that Abure’s tenure as National Chairman, following the 2018 agreement, expired on June 10, 2024. Before the expiration of his tenure, he was suspended by the Labour Party in Ward 3, Arue, Uromi in Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo State.
In May, 2024, the Edo State executive of the party and their supporters stormed the INEC Headquarters and were received by top INEC officials, who commended their peaceful nature and pledged to look into their requests as contained in their letter of notification to INEC on Abure’s suspension.
The letter notifying INEC of his suspension dated May 14, 2024, and another letter of ratification dated May 15, 2024, both of which were ratified at a meeting of the state executive committee on Friday, May 24, 2024 in Benin City, stated that the suspension was with immediate effect.
The LP-NTC also alleged that Abure had struck a deal with a frontline ruling political party to conduct the illegal congresses and national convention, with promises of ministerial and senatorial slots in 2027.
LABOUR FACTION REACTS
In the eyes of Abayomi, the law supports Abure in his actions taken so far.
He based his argument on two rulings by the Supreme Court. The first is the suit involving a one-time Borno State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, who became an Interim National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in 2016.
In that case between Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, the apex court, in its judgement delivered by Justice Mary Odili, ruled that the NEC of a political party shall be the highest decision making organ of any political party and that political parties must obey their constitution.
Similarly, in the case of Senator Magnus Abe vs Rotimi Amechi, the apex court deepened its earlier judgement when it ruled that any time there is a conflict of interest between the party’s constitution and the country’s constitution, the party’s constitution must be set aside. Similar judgements by the apex court have followed this pattern.
Abayomi said, “The NLCT was formed by NLC General Secretary, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja and President of NLC, Joe Ajaero. They do not have the power to determine who becomes what in LP. There is no provision in the trade union Act and the NLC constitution that empowers the president and secretary of NLC to appoint Chairman and Secretary for the Labour Party.
On the question about who qualifies as leader of the party, he said, “The letter the NLC wrote to INEC on this matter is outside their jurisdiction. Secondly, Article 14, (1 A) of the party constitution on powers of officers, states that the National Chairman is the leader of the party and presides over all meetings of national convention, meeting of the NEC and NWC of the party.
“Now, the National Secretary under article 14, (4 a and b) is empowered by our party’s constitution to supervise the daily activities of the party and he shall be the principal administrative officer of the party in consultation with the National Chairman. He shall issue notices of meetings of National convention, NEC and the NWC in consultation with and approval of the National Chairman.
“Then Article 2 (A) specifies the composition of our party’s NEC: National Chairman and other executive officers, national offices, President and Vice President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Speaker, if produced by the party, as well as all state governors, deputy governors, President and General Secretary of NLC, President and Secretary of Trade Union Congress, TUC. The total membership is over 70. We do not have members of the State Houses of Assembly there.
“So where does Otti and presidential candidate Peter Obi derive their powers to convene a reconciliation meeting in Abia? They are usurping the powers of the National Secretary to issue notices for party meetings.
Yinusa disagrees: “Abure’s leadership has expired. What alternative do we have?,” he asked and answered, “There are elected leaders of the party who are constitutionally recognised as leaders of the party. In this case we have a governor, Alex Otti of Abia State, the NLC and TUC presidents and other statutory members of the party. So, if the tenure of Abure has expired then these statutory leaders of the party come in. That is why Governor Otti is calling for a reconciliation meeting, including Abure himself. As a moral leader of the party, Obi signed the letter calling on all stakeholders, starting with his meeting at LP office and then that of the NLC office, promising that he was going to call for reconciliation.
BACKGROUND TO THE CRISIS
The background to the hardened positions adopted by the tendencies in the party can be traced to the period between 2018 and 2021 when the court of law had to be drafted to mediate through a binding judgement that was signed by Abure and the NLC President at the time, Ayuba Abba, in the presence of INEC.
During this challenging period for the party, three successive National Chairmen from A.A Salami through Maria Labake to Abure emerged through appointments of the NEC.
JUSTICE KOLAWOLE’S 2018 INTERVENTION
The signatories to that agreement after the court was drafted to intervene and Justice G.O Kolawole in his judgement in March 20, 2018, recommended an expansive and inclusive National Convention to be organised in line with the LP’s constitution in the future.
This is what the Abure faction claimed to have done with the conduct of a convention in Nnewi National on March 27, 2024.
For the NCL-TC and Governor Otti, no convention, according to the binding agreement, has been held as Abure himself did not emerge through a convention. That is why INEC, which witnessed the signing of the agreement among the disputants, refused to allow Abure to attend its meetings with political parties.
Explaining further, Yinusa said, “Before the 2023 general election, coming from a particular leadership challenge, we from the National Patriotic Front and other stakeholders were able to get Abure to agree to a reconciliation of all the problems. During that time, Comrade Wahab Ayuba was President of NLC. Prof Pat Utomi, Wale Okunniyi and Femi Falana, SAN, were part of the team that mediated in the crisis and a truce was reached.
“INEC was part of the truce, as regards the signing of a document where it was agreed by all the parties, including Abure and Ayuba that there would be an alternative dispute resolution as occasion demands, we would have a national convention, starting from the ward level upwards and there was going to be an inauguration of a Board of Trustees to be led by one Comrade SOZ Ejiofor. It was also agreed that there would be a NWC that would include three members from the NLC. That document was signed by Ayuba and Abure. During the 2023 general election, it was clear the convention could not be held because of time. So, in a meeting in Asaba, Abure’s tenure was extended for one more year.
“After the expiration of that one year, it was expected that we would go back to that initial agreement that was signed by Abure and Wabba, but Abure in his own wisdom decided to go and do a National Convention in flagrant disobedience to the agreement. That is the beginning of the current crisis.
WAY FORWARD
Unrelenting in the pursuit of its position, the Abure faction maintains that there is no leadership crisis in the party and no vacancy in any office.
Abure stated, “The National Working Committee (NWC) consequently notes as follows: “It is safe to conclude that Labour Party under this leadership has complied with the provisions of the Electoral Act, Nigerian Constitution and the Labour Party constitution in convening the national convention of the party that was held at Nnewi, Anambra State, on March 27, 2024. Therefore, for any person(s), group or agency to speculate that the tenures of the current executives have expired, it is not only mischievous but a deliberate attempt to put the party in comatose.”
Arabambi told THEWILL that only the law courts can resolve the issues at stake.
He said, “They NLC transition committee say they will file a case of contempt against Abure. We are in court already. We have filed a suit before Justice Obiora Egwuato at Court 11 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. It is slated for hearing on Sept 11, 2024.
“Our demands are firstly, that Abure tenure subsists through a valid NEC in 2021. Secondly, NLC, and Obi lack the legitimate power to ask Abure to resign. Thirdly, INEC should be restrained from dealing with any other group or party on behalf of the LP. If they want Abure to be changed, it must be through a valid National Convention. We have served INEC. This is a matter of rule of law and obedience to court order.
“The Umuahia reconciliation meeting will hold and take a far reaching decision of the crisis,” Yinusa said. “Abure’s tenure has expired and he knows it.”
(THEWILL)
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