Crisis looms in LP as faction declares Abure-led NWC meeting illegal

Callistus Okafor, national factional chair of the Labour Party (LP) has berated Julius Abure for holding a national working committee (NWC) meeting.

Abure had presided over a NWC meeting on Tuesday and a communique was issued after.

In the communique, Abure said Alex Otti, governor of Abia, called for an emergency national executive committee (NEC) meeting to dissolve the highest organ of the party, state executive council, local government executive council and ward executive council on the grounds that the tenures of the executives had expired.

He said there was no vacuum of leadership in the party at all levels.

“Article 14 of the Labour Party Constitution provides that it is only the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the Party who can convene the meetings of the National Working Committee, National Executive Committee and National Convention or any other national meeting of the Party,” he said.

However, in a statement, Okafor said the NWC meeting presided by Abure was illegal because his tenure expired on June 9, 2024.

“INEC is said to have rejected the leadership of Julius Abure following the recent crisis in the party,” he said.

“The tenure of Julius Abure expired on June 9, 2024.”

The factional LP chair called for the implementation of a consent judgment.

CONSENT JUDGMENT

In 2018, Gabriel Kolawole, an Abuja federal high court judge handling the dispute, delivered a consent judgment that compelled all parties to convene an “inclusive” national convention.

The verdict followed a leadership tussle between late Abdulkadir Salam, a former chairman of LP, and a group led by Salisu Mohammed, who had declared himself the national caretaker chair of the party.

Okafor, who has argued that he is a “beneficiary” of the judgment, was deputy chair (south) to Salam at the time.