NLC, Abure Leadership Fight Dirty Over Labour Party

The silent war between the Labour Party (LP) and its strongest ally, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), blew into the open yesterday with the LP accusing congress of worrisome interference in its internal affairs.

The party claimed the ‘rascality’ of the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, had destroyed the successes already recorded by the LP.

The NLC had demanded the resignation of LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, and the constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.

Sparking the open confrontation with a late night open letter on Friday, the NLC Political Commission accused “some characters in the Labour Party leadership” of failing to identify with the expectation of Nigerian workers and people that the LP must always live above board.

It said the continued refusal of Abure to “showcase the leadership qualities epitomised in the founding ideology of the Labour Party presents him as unfit for the position he desperately wishes to cling to and we have now discovered is the reason behind all the crises in the Labour Party.”

Continuing,it said: “The sole administrator mentality of Mr. Abure has stood in the way of efforts by the NLC Political Commission to intervene and resolve the leadership crises in the Labour Party.

“Our position and interventions in the Labour Party have been in three dimensions. First is to defend the Labour Party from being maligned and hijacked by fifth columnists, especially establishment political parties who have invested huge resources to recruit some members of the national leadership of the Labour Party to undermine the party.

“Second, the NLC Political Commission have continued to intervene in the leadership crisis in the Labour Party to ensure that the Party operates an efficient and effective system of management that prioritises inclusiveness, transparency and accountability; not the sole administrator system that has been foisted on the party’s psyche by Mr. Abure and his ilk who are not committed to the ideology of Labour Party.

“Third, our continued intervention in the affairs of the Labour Party is to ensure that the court judgments, agreements and organ decisions of the Labour Party are kept to the letter.

“Instead of sticking to agreements, Mr. Julius Abure has deployed all manner of subterfuge to undermine the efforts of NLC to reposition the Labour Party as the number one political party in Nigeria, including shunning invitations to meet with the NLC Political Commission.

“Mr. Julius Abure had in April 2023 also tried to unilaterally extend his tenure in office by two years. He was only stopped at the instance of the NLC and Mr. Peter Obi who insisted that the right thing be done.

“The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission regrets the recurrent scandals from the national headquarters of the Labour Party. These unsavoury developments recently appeared to have climaxed by the unfortunate spilling of sour grapes from two leaders of the Labour Party – Barrister. Julius Abure, National Chairman, and Ms. Oluchi Opara, the National Treasurer.

“We are alarmed by claims by Ms. Oluchi Opara that the National Chairman diverted about N3.5 billion of funds received from the sale of nomination forms by the Labour Party and donations for the prosecution of the 2023 political campaigns. Mr. Julius Abure has dismissed these allegations as baseless and gone ahead to suspend Ms. Opara for six months.

“Viral reports and pictures of the National Chairman of the Labour Party being hauled to the ground like a common criminal and tossed into a security vehicle has added insults to the public opprobrium that the leadership of the Labour Party had been subjected to in recent times.

“There are also pending cases of fraud, forgery and misrepresentation against the National Chairman of the Labour Party in various courts and police stations in Nigeria. This is a sour misadventure in political mischief, mismanagement and misdemeanour.

“The conduct of Mr. Julius Abure and his maladministration of the Labour Party is totally unacceptable to us.

“At the top of the crisis of mismanagement in the Labour Party is the extortionist tendencies by Mr. Abure exemplified by the monetization of the nomination process including the recent outrageous N30 million charged aspirants in the recent Edo State Governorship primary.

“Amidst the drama plaguing the Labour Party, we are alarmed that it appears that some key leaders of the Labour Party are not concerned about the huge embarrassment, nuisance, and damage to the good image of the Labour Party that their actions constitute. The truth is these scandals do not represent who we are as Labour Party.

“The presidential flagbearer of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi has weighed in on the recent scandals affecting Mr. Julius Abure and has called for a forensic audit into the use of party funds.

“The leadership of the NLC fully supports the position of Mr. Peter Obi. It is unfortunate that Mr. Julius Abure does not want this to be done before going behind the back of stakeholders in the party to plan for an illegal National Convention.”

LP to NLC: You’ve become a bundle of contradiction and paradox

The LP was swift in its response to the NLC open letter.

Firing back in its own statement yesterday, the party declared that it is now a property of the LP.

It wondered why it never occurred to the NLC leadership that “Labour Party has a life of its own different from that of the Nigeria Labour Congress.”

The statement signed by the LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said: “The NLC letter did not come to us as a surprise or a shock; it was long expected before now, having known that the NLC was going to engage itself on this misadventure.

“Nigerians will recall that since 2014, NLC has been involved in a war of blackmail and attrition against the Labour Party and its leadership. It was only recently, following the civil and diplomatic approach adopted by Barrister Julius Abure when he assumed leadership that he was able to get the then President of the NLC, Ayuba Waba and the then President of the Trade Union Congress, Olaleye Quadri, to a truce where the NLC, TUC and Labour Party agreed to work together in harmony.

“Unfortunately, the rascality of the current president of the NLC, Joe Ajero, has destroyed the successes already recorded. It must be noted that the NLC and its political commission have become a bundle of contradiction and paradox.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress has written several letters to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and to the party on the need to conduct a national convention. In fact, the NLC has queried even the rationale behind the one year extension which was graciously granted by the NEC in session in Asaba, which is in line with the party constitution.

“The leadership of the party in its wisdom has decided to yield to their agitation for the convocation of a national convention.

“Article 14:4b of our party constitution mandates the National Secretary in consultation with the National Chairman to ‘issue notices of meetings of National Convention, NEC, NWC amongst others. It is in the exercise of this power that the national chairman and national Secretary have called for the convention following the decision of the national executive council of the party.

“It is therefore ironical for the same NLC which has been agitating for a convention to now be demanding the rationale for the call for a convention.

“At this point, the leadership of the party wants to ask the NLC, what exactly do they want? If Joe Ajaero is interested in the leadership of the party, he is therefore advised to resign as the President of the NLC and join in the contest for the National Chairmanship of the party that is scheduled for the convention on the 27th of March, 2024.

“We must note that undue interference by the Nigeria Labour Congress on the affairs of the party has become worrisome and it has become needful to emphasise here the distinction that the Labour Party has a life of its own different from that of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

“In fact, the 1999 Constitution states clearly that once a political party is registered, it has a life of its own whereby it can run its own affairs without any interference.

“The Electoral Act and the Constitution provide that no organisation can own any other organisation. The NLC as an organisation cannot claim the ownership of the Labour Party.

“The constitution of the party is clear that it is only those who subscribe to the party and those who are financial members of the party are the owners of the party and therefore can have a say on the affairs of the party.

“The interference of the present leadership of the NLC on the party is really choking and we can hardly breathe.

“It is this NLC leadership which pressured the Party not to give His Excellency, Alex Otti the governorship ticket for the 2023 general election on the ground that he was allegedly not workers’ friendly when he was Chief Executive of a bank.

“But today, that same Alex Otti is doing Labour Party proud with the work he is doing in Abia State.

“Again, the same NLC attempted to prevail on the leadership of the party to upload a different candidate other than Senator Athan Achonu after he won the Imo State party primaries under the Labour Party.

“It will shock Nigerians to know that members and officials of the NLC are not even card carrying members of the Labour Party. All over the country, NLC members have been found to be supporting either the APC or the PDP.

“It is again of important to make certain clarification as to the so called judgments that were referred to by the NLC. We must indicate clearly that the Labour Party is not in default of any court judgment whatsoever.

“The agreement reached by the NLC to call for a convention is what we are following. We have fully implemented that agreement and the convention is in line with the agreement. We are therefore not in any default of court judgment as erroneously implied by the NLC.

“We therefore want to advise the NLC and its commission that it should focus only on its statutory responsibilities of defending the workers and the workers’ rights.

“Today, the minimum wage is N30.000 while a bag of rice is N80.000. We hear about NLC talk about ethos and ethics of the Labour movement and the Labour Party, this is also an NLC that cannot call or sustain a strike for one or two days without calling it off. This is an NLC which cannot think of calling a protest and sustaining it in order to get the attention of the government for the interest of the workers.

“The present NLC should take a time to listen to the opinion Nigerians have formed about them. Can the NLC of today in any way be compared to NLC of the then Hassan Sumounu, Adams Oshiohmole and a few others in the past?”

The statement added: “We must at this point appreciate the Trade Union Congress, TUC and its Political Commission under the leadership of Comrade Festus Osifo who stoutly refused to sign the Press Release with the NLC on the ground that it was baseless, frivolous, unrealistic and an evidence of power thirst, which to them was not necessary at this time considering the successes already achieved at the Labour Party.

“We equally want to advise Joe Ajero to emulate the leadership of Ayuba Waba, Olaleye Quadri and Osifo in working closely with the party.

“The ill-intended press release by the Political Commission also made a reference to spurious allegations made by the suspended National treasurer, Oluchi Opara and it attempted to give it some credence. This clearly exposes the mischief by the NLC to hoodwink the people.

“We have stated clearly that the total money received by the party was N1.3 billion and no other report has contradicted it. So for the NLC to be quoting that spurious allegation goes to show that they are part of the challenges the Labour Party has been facing.

“We are shocked that NLC, which was a victim of a recent harassment, threat to life and brutalisation of its president, would express shock over similar treatment meted to our chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, who was brutalized for political reasons and nothing more.

“The NLC statement has it that Abure was arrested for fraud even when the police stated that the arrest was for attempted murder, which of course was a fabricated falsehood.

“We are shocked that the NLC, which its President suffered the same fate, with bloodied face in Imo State will in one breath speak of Abure in this manner. This goes to portray the desperate characters in the current NLC.

“We must also state clearly that our leader, Peter Obi, made reference to the audit of the campaign account and not forensic audit for the Labour Party. In any case, we have stated clearly that the Labour Party is open to forensic audit of its accounts.

“We are even calling on the NLC to send its own external auditors to check our financial books. We are also calling on Peter Obi to expedite action on the auditing of our accounts. And for the NLC to be using this as a cheap blackmail is to show their high level of desperation and mischief.

“The conclusion of the NLC’s Press Release is laughable. In fact, it didn’t come to us as a surprise.

“It will interest Nigerians to know that the NLC has through some proxies gone to court severally to fight the leadership of the party, the most recent being the case filed by one Ado.

“Passing a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the party is laughable. It clearly shows that they neither have nor read the constitution of the party.

“Article 17:1 of the party constitution is very clear on how the national chairman of the party can be removed from office. We must state clearly that it is only the National Convention that can pass a Vote of No Confidence in the leadership of the party and not the NLC who are not even members of the party.

“Ironically, members of the so called Political Commission who are being used by the NLC are not card carrying members of the Labour Party. I wonder how people who are staying outside a house are hoping to interfere in what is happening inside. They simply do not have both the power and the capacity to do so.

“Members of the Labour Party appreciate the leadership of Barrister Julius Abure who has taken the party from obscurity to the enviable position it found itself now. It is under his leadership that the party has found limelight.

“Today in the Labour Party, we have a governor, senators, house of representatives and assembly members, among others. Today, the Labour Party is the major opposition political party in Nigeria.

“We therefore urge the NLC to go and learn from other developing democracies across the world how the Labour movements have given support to Labour Parties across the world in Australia, Brazil amongst others who have captured power in their countries. Such intellectual exploration has become necessary so we can collectively work towards the good of Nigerians.

“There is need for us to come together and collectively fight the ruling class that has held the nation down for so long and has impoverished the nation. It makes no sense for us to be fighting ourselves.

“In conclusion, we note that the Labour Party will be going ahead with our party programmes. Our convention will hold. We have consulted with our stakeholders and the consultation is ongoing and we will continue to consult until March 27 when the new leadership of the party will emerge.

“We have advised the NLC before now that party politics is played at the Ward level and not at the National level. If NLC is interested in taking the leadership of the party, they should go and engage in the mass mobilisation of its members to join the party at the grassroots.”