THE NATION
Yesterday’s protest at the Abuja headquarters of the Labour Party (LP) by members of the Joe Ajaero-led Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has sank the party deeper into crisis.
The picketing of the LP’s secretariat was to ram in the demand by the NLC that the LP should put off its March 27 convention slated for Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
Abia State is the only one controlled by LP out of the 36 states.
The Labour centre also called for the resignation of LP national chairman Juliu Abure.
The LP Caucus in the House of Representatives has also called for the suspension of the planned convention.
But the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) rebuffed all the entreaties from party stakeholders, insisting that the convention must hold as planned.
Around 11am yesterday, the NLC members stormed the party’s headquarters and forcibly gained entry into the premises.
The invasion triggered a heated argument between the Head of Information of the NLC, Benson Upah with security agents stationed at the secretariat which led one of the security operatives drawing his gun.
After a few minutes of heated argument, the workers forced their way into the complex, a development that made the secretariat workers to abandon their desks.
The Labour leaders, led by the acting NLC Chairman (Political Commission), Theophilus Ndubuaku, demanded the sack of Abure as national chairman.
They (protesters) accused Abure of being a “sole administrator who unilaterally fixed the upcoming convention without input from stakeholders of the party.”
Ndubuaku said there had not been ward, local government and state congresses in the build up to the convention.
He accused Abure of trying to secretly stage a coup that will make him (Abure) remain in office perpetually as national chairman.
The Labour leader said the leadership of the NLC political commission would not accept such illegality.
Ndubuaku alleged that Abure as a ‘political coup plotter’ was plotting to remain as chairman of the party.
According to him, during a meeting with the NLC leadership, Abure was asked to step aside to allow for thorough investigation following the allegation of misappropriation of funds raised for the prosecution of the 2023 general election.
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