Labour Party: The trouble this time
By John Alechenu
These are certainly not the best of times for Nigeria’s Labour Party, LP. The party which showed so much promise a few months to the 2023 general elections, is now gasping for breath.
The journey to this faux pas arguably began soon after the party failed in its bid dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, from power in 2023.
There were claims and counter-claims about what was responsible for the party’s defeat.
Prominent among issues brought to the fore included but not limited to finance, accountability and lack of inclusion.
A former National Treasurer of the party, Mrs. Oluchi Opara, stirred the hornet’s nest with a demand that the embattled National Chairman, Julius Abure account for over N3bn raised by the party from the sale of forms and donations received ahead of the elections.
Oluchi alleged that as treasurer, she was not made signatory to the party’s accounts at the time and that the Chairman only declared N55 million out of the funds.
In response, Abure who denied the charges, accused the treasurer of belonging to a group of persons hired by external forces to destabilise the LP, and pave way for the ruling APC to remain in power beyond 2027.
A close associate of the 2023 Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said: “We were shocked to find out that most of the funds sent to states for campaign logistics, including the payment of agents, were diverted by those who were supposed to disburse them.
“It was heartbreaking to our leader to hear agents lament that no one bought even pure (satchet) water for them when provisions for feeding were made.”
Obi’s intervention
Party stakeholders asked Mr. Peter Obi to intervene. He did by convening a meeting of the Obi/Datti Campaign Committee, which addressed a press conference to present an audited account of their campaign separate from that of the party.
At the conference held on February 16, 2024, Obi said: “ I am a member of the party and they have chosen to say that I am the leader. What we need to do in the party and I have discussed it with the leadership is that we must now appoint a reputable audit firm to audit and be able to deal with the account of the party.
“When I am involved in money, it must be transparent. So, the allegations and counter-allegations now must be thoroughly investigated and verified and we would reconcile it and know what exactly to do.”
Despite several assurances, the outcome of the audit exercise if it was ever carried out at all, hasn’t been made public.
There’s no denying the fact that the entry of Mr. Obi and his ardent supporters under the auspices of the Obidient Movement, impacted positively on the political fortunes of the LP, before, during and after the 2023 elections.
Rejection of Obidient movement support groups
However, attempts by the various support groups who form the bulk of the Movement to find accommodation in the mainstream LP were repeatedly rejected by the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee, NWC.
In the midst of this all, news filtered out that Abure’s tenure was due to expire by June, 2024.
Ahead of the expiry date, the Abure-led NWC planned to hold an elective national convention. Party leaders including Obi, the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti and elected members of the party in the state and National Assembly implored Abure and his team, to begin the process with ward, local government and state congresses.
This appeal apparently went unheeded. After several postponements, Abure held the national convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, on March 27, where he secured another term along side most members of his NWC.
Abure’s olive branch
Extending an olive branch to Obi and Otti, as part of the resolutions taken during the “convention” the Abure-led faction decided to reserve its 2027 presidential ticket for Obi and the Abia Governorship ticket for Otti.
Fresh trouble
Fresh trouble reared it’s head when the election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, through Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the spokesperson to the National Chairman, disowned the entire event on the grounds that proper procedures were not followed.
According to Section 85 (1) of the Electoral Act (2010) as amended, political parties are mandated to give INEC at least 21 days notice before holding a convention.
INEC is also empowered by the Electoral Act of 2022 in Article 82 (2) to monitor the activities of parties. The section states: “The Commission may, with or without prior notice to the political party attend and observe any convention, congress, conference or meeting which is convened by a political party for the purpose of (a) electing members of its executive committees or other governing bodies.”
However, while INEC insists LP breached these provisions, the Abure-led faction insists it fully complied with the law.
National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh in an interview with Saturday Vanguard said: “Nigerians who have been following this party are aware of the various schemes by external forces to destroy us. The Labour Party has come to stay.
“For those who may have forgotten, it was under this present leadership that LP rose from relative obscurity to become the second, if not the largest opposition party in Nigeria.
“Today, this party boasts of a sitting governor, dozens of members of state and federal lawmakers, this never happened before we came on board.”
He said those who were scared of the party forming government in 2027 were behind current attempts to destabilise the party.
Obi, Otti and other stakeholders are however having none of these arguments.
They convened a stakeholders’ meeting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, last week, to chart a new course for the party.
At the end of deliberations, they set up a 29 member interim leadership for the party with former Finance Minister, Senator Nenadi Usman as chairperson.
The team was given 90 days to organize congresses which will lead up to an elective national convention to produce new leaders for the party at all levels.
Already, a letter to this effect has been written to INEC. What happens next remains to be seen.
Nenadi extends olive branch to Abure, others
Meanwhile, Senator Usman has said she would like to be remembered for leaving behind an LP which is united, formidable and indomitable capable of winning elections nationwide.
Speaking at an inaugural meeting of committee in Abuja, on Thursday, she said the team met a disunited and rancorous political party but that it would have achieved its set objectives when by the end of its tenure, the party becomes one big, united family.
She said: “The legacy I desire to be remembered for is that I met a Labour Party in relative conflict and disunity but left it a united, formidable and indomitable elections winning party nationwide.
“This is a tall, demanding order. But it is achievable if we submit to the spirit of forgiveness of the wrongs of the past by all sides, reinforce the values of our party’s founding fathers and bond diligently as one family on a voyage together into the future.
“The fuel for the ship of this voyage can only be distilled from integrity rebirth, staying firm to the principles of fairness, justice and equal opportunity to all irrespective of members’ social status, tribe, religion and gender, as our party’s motto enshrines.”
She recalled that on September 4, at Umuahia, the Abia State capital, no team, group or divide of the party’s various episodes of conflict was vanquished. Everyone won.
Noting that as such, no group or divide should feel any sense of shame or defeat.”
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