The Labour Party has become a theater of chaos following the latest twist in the crisis engulfing the party especially as it regards who takes over from Mr. Julius Abure who has been National Chairman of the party since 2018. On Wednesday, the Abure-led National Working Committee of the party held a national convention in Enugu where the entire NWC members were ‘re-elected’. However, many stakeholders, including Mr. Peter Obi distanced themselves from the Nnewi convention.
Prior to the convention, the Labour Party moved the venue of the convention thrice – from Benin City to Umuahia before eventually settling for Nnewi in an apparent internal power tussle between the camps of Mr. Peter Obi and Gov. Alex Otti of Abia State. The NLC also called for the resignation of Abure for attempting to ‘unilaterally’ fix and conduct a national convention for the Labour Party without adequate input and consultation from the stakeholders. LP NASS caucus also kicked against the Congress and called for its postponement.
Abure and his NWC were however adamant and insisted on the March 27th convention date. Following the conclusion of the scantily attended Nnewi national convention of the Labour Party, the Nigerian Labour Congress came out strongly to denounce the re-election of Abure and his NWC, calling it a charade. Being the trustees of the Labour Party, the NLC announced that the Board of Trustees of the party led by Comrade S. O. Z. Ejiofor has taken over the leadership of the Labour Party.
In the letter by the NLC, it described Julius Abure as the “immediate past national chairman” of the Labour Party and pointed out that it was forced to step in following the expiration on March 27th, 2024 of the one year extension of tenure given to Julius Abure and the erstwhile NWC of the party in line with the agreement signed by Mr. Abure, the NLC and the TUC on 27th March, 2022, which was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Asaba.
The NLC in the letter promised to consult extensively with relevant stakeholders in the party and conduct what it describes as an all-inclusive and expansive national convention of the Labour Party as soon as possible, which would start with grassroot congresses at ward, local government and state and ultimately at the national level. However, NLC in the letter openly recognised ONLY Mr. Peter Obi as the leader of the party and left out Gov. Alex Otti of Abia, who ordinarily is the highest ranking elected official in the party and by default a national leader of the party.
This deliberate oversight by the NLC suggests that it is dancing to a tune being played by Mr. Peter Obi. The biggest sign to suggest that all is definitely not well with the Labour Party is the graveyard silence from Mr. Peter Obi and his camp regarding the presumed national convention of the Labour Party. Obidients on their part were also not enthusiastic about the convention either and were instead calling for Abure’s head. Vocal voices in the camp of Mr. Peter Obi such as Aisha Yesufu, Kenneth Okonkwo etc have been eerily quiet about the happenings in the party especially the national convention.
Since the purported re-election of the Abure and his NWC on one hand and the press release by the NLC announcing take over of the affairs of the Labour Party on the other hand, Mr. Peter Obi has not said anything, no congratulations or endorsement of any sort. As a matter of fact, the last time Mr Peter Obi made mention of Julius Abure in a public post was on 21st February, 2024 when Abure was arrested in Benin City. In fact, during the build up to the Abure-organised national convention, Mr. Peter Obi was desperately going to mosques around the country to break Ramadan fast with Muslims. That is a new level of aloofness from a supposed national leader of a party.
Mr. Peter Obi did not hold any stakeholders meeting to discuss developments in the party and way forward, rather he tried to use the NLC to force Abure out. With every passing day it is becoming clear that there is a cold war between Mr. Peter Obi and Gov. Alex Otti of Abia State. While Peter Obi and many of his loyalists in the Labour Party stayed away from the convention that took place at Nnewi (15 minutes away from Agulu), Alex Otti’s deputy, Mr. Ikechukwu Emetu was made chairman of the convention and reportedly declared the results of the convention.
With Mr. Peter Obi set to participate in one his usual Spaces on X (formerly twitter) today, all eyes would be on Mr. Peter Obi to speak on the crisis rocking the Labour Party and take a categorical stand. Obi’s expected position in today’s Space regarding the self-inflicted chaos in the Labour Party may signal the beginning of the end of the party as a cohesive force capable of winning elections. Already some members of the Enugu House of Assembly elected under the LP platform yesterday decamped to the PDP. This is just the sign of many things to come.