Abure rejects Otti’s 29-man reconciliation panel

Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis, Ogbonnaya Ikokwu and Sunday Nwakanma

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, the National Secretary, Umar Farouk, and the National Youth Leader, Kennedy Ahanotu, were conspicuously absent at the enlarged stakeholders’ meeting of the party held in Umuahia, the Abia State capital on Wednesday.

The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, had convened the stakeholders’ meeting with the aim of resolving the lingering leadership crisis in the party.

Although the presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, threw his weight behind the meeting, Abure had last week warned Otti to face governance and stop meddling in party administration.

However, Otti, Obi, his running mate, Senator Datti Baba Ahmed, the senator representing Anambra Central senatorial zone, Victor Umeh, were among the stakeholders present at the meeting, which held in the Abia State Government House, Umuahia.

According to a communique issued at the end of the meeting and read by a member of the party, Mr Pwajok Edward, the stakeholders set up a 29-member caretaker committee to resolve the crisis within the party.

The communique added that the committee, headed by Senator Nenadi Usman as chairman, and Senator Darlington Nwaokecha as Secretary, was given 90 days to resolve the crisis in the party.

Edward added that the party was concerned that the Independent National Electoral Commission had said the party has no leadership.

He said, “The NEC of the party together with other stakeholders from all over the country came together to look into the vacuum created by the expiration of tenure of the National Working Committee since June 10, 2024.

“This meeting has resolved to set up a caretaker committee to be headed by Senator Nenadi Usman, with Darlington Nwaokecha as the secretary and seven other members drawn from all over the country.

“The meeting also advised party members to withdraw all pending litigation in court against the party.

“The committee has the responsibility to ensure that ward and local government and state congresses are conducted all over the country, which will culminate in a national convention where the party will elect new leaders and the National Working Committee.

“The party was concerned that INEC, which has the legitimacy  of monitoring the activities of political parties, didn’t monitor the convention that returned the National Chairman.

“You journalists know that on two occasions, INEC has said that LP has no leadership. So we can’t leave the vacuum. We want to elect a leadership that would be recognized by INEC.”

But the Abure-led NWC kicked against the resolution of the stakeholders, describing it as null and void.

Reacting in a statement issued a few hours after the meeting, the National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, stressed that Otti lacked the locus standi to oversee such a crucial meeting as if it was an extension of his state’s activities.

He said, “The so-called meeting in Umuahia is a charade, a waste of time and resources of Abia People. As clearly stated in our previous statement, the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti, and others who converged on Umuahia  have no power within the party’s constitution, the Electoral Act and even within the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to convene any meeting of the party.

“The premise on which Governor Alex Otti called the meeting is not only faulty but mischievous. The government business is not transacted verbally but through official communication and correspondences which are done in writing. As we speak, there is no communication whatsoever from INEC to the Party as regards any objection to the conduct of the National Convention.

“We challenge Alex Otti to produce the official letter addressed to him from INEC on the subject matter. There is no vacuum in the leadership of the party. Consequently, the so-called caretaker committee set up by the governor of Abia State is not known to the constitution of the party and can best be described as a department in the Abia State Government House.

“We are shocked to note that the so-called chairman of the caretaker committee is not a registered member of the party. She surfaced during the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign to assist Peter Obi in his carmpaign.”