Abure didn’t heed Obi’s advice on inclusive convention, says Yunusa Tanko

Yunusa Tanko, spokesperson of the Labour Party (LP) campaign in the 2023 elections, says Julius Abure, the party’s chairman, did not heed Peter Obi’s advice on conducting an inclusive convention.

On March 27, the LP conducted a controversial national convention in Anambra state, which re-elected Julius Abure as its national chairman.

Obi did not attend the convention, fuelling speculations that he may be mulling ditching the LP for another platform.

On Friday night, Obi said when the leadership of the party approached him regarding the convention, he advised them to consult key stakeholders first before proceeding with the event.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also said it did not monitor the convention.

Speaking on Monday on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, Tanko said the controversy surrounding the convention would have been avoided had Abure heeded Obi’s advice.

“His Excellency, Peter Obi, has made a concerted effort in trying to intervene at any point we have this particular issue and trying to improve,” Tanko said.

“When the issue of the national convention came up, he (Obi) suggested to the national chairman that because we are bigger now, we need to have a wider consultation: meet with responsible and interested people such as the TUC and NLC, stakeholders, the Obidient group — young generation people who are interested in seeing Nigeria work. Meet with leaders who have different ideas that can midwife us into a greater height.

“All of these were the suggestions that he made, and not only did he make those suggestions, he practicalised them because he met with the members of the national assembly.

“He met with the leadership of the party recently in Asaba trying to give them ideas on how he thinks certain things could be done and we could improve our situation but of course, you know how politics is, sometimes, people may be trying to encourage people, but they do something different.

“You can only take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water. So, that is exactly what Peter Obi has done, he has done so greatly to see if we can find a solution to some of the problems we find ourselves.”