NLC rejects Julius Abure-led leadership of Labour Party

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has again rejected the Julius Abure-led leadership of the Labour Party (LP), insisting that the judgement of the Abuja Federal High Court affirming him will not make them recognise him as the party’s chairman.

Recall that Justice Emeka Nwite on 9th October, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Abure-led National Working Committee of the party.

According to The WHistler, Nwite also validated the 27th March national convention of the party at Nnewi, which returned Abure and other executives into office.

However, a statement on Thursday, 17th October, by acting chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Theophilus Ndubuaku, said the Abure-led leadership is out to destabilise the party ahead of the forthcoming.

Ndubuaku said the judgement is a gross miscarriage of justice, as the NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) who are statutory bodies recognised in the constitution of the party were not joined as parties to the suit.

He said, “The NLC Political Commission views the judgement as another act of desperation and subterfuge by Mr Julius Abure and his motley of hangers-on merchants who have no other job than to leech and parasitise on the goodwill of the Labour Party in furtherance of their pecuniary interest.

“It is unfortunate that by adopting the mischievous and clandestine approach to the judiciary, Mr Julius Abure and his ilk who are certainly in the employment of entrenched interests bent on sabotaging and destabilising the Labour Party ahead of the 2027 general election have continued to pull the wool over the eyes of our justice system.

“We perceive Justice Omotosho’s judgement and now Justice Emeka Nwite’s judgment that appears to give some veneer of legitimacy to the expired leadership of Mr Julius Abure by venerating the widely vilified Nnewi Convention of the Labour Party illegally conducted by Mr Abure in violation of extant court judgements, provisions of the Labour Party Constitution and INEC supervised terms of settlement as a gross miscarriage of justice.

“Our position is formed on legal and moral grounds. It is queer that the Nigeria Labour Congress which together with the Trade Union Congress are the only statutory bodies recognised in the Labour Party Constitution were not joined as parties to the two court processes filed by Mr Abure.

Ndubuaku accused Abure of failing to honour an agreement between the NWC led by him and the party’s Board of Trustees in April 2022, monitored by INEC.

He also said Abure, who became National Secretary in 2021 after the demise of the then National Chairman, Alhaji A.A. Salaam, was not supposed to take over leadership of the party but for the intervention of INEC, an agreement was reached that his tenure will expire by June this year, after which, a national convention will be held to produce a leadership.

Ndubuaku said the party’s stakeholders, in view of the agreement, appointed an Interim Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party led by Senator Esther Nenani Usman.

“NLC Political Commission supports the position of the Labour Party Interim National Caretaker Committee to challenge the recent judgments at the Appeal Court.

“While this is being pursued, we wish to urge INEC to keep respecting the provisions of our laws in respect of “status quo ante bellum”, until all legal options in this case are exhausted. INEC should continue to maintain its position on the non-recognition of Mr Julius Abure’s claim to leadership while quickly granting full recognition to the Interim National Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party.

“We emphasise that the recognition of Senator Nenadi Usman’s Caretaker Committee will go a long way in checking the attempt by the rival political interests whose errand Mr Abure and his hired hands are running to hide under the veil of “crisis in the Labour Party” to exclude the Labour Party from active participation in the electoral space in the run-up to the 2027 general election, especially the pending off-season elections.

“We urge millions of Labour Party members not to lose faith, Mr Julius Abure and his mercantile crowd have continued to prove that they are errand boys and girls to a known political entity that does not align with the interests and persuasions of the Labour Party. In due time, his sponsors and the enemies of democracy in Nigeria would be fully unmasked.

“Finally, we assert that a million court judgements will not impose Mr Abure on members of the Labour Party. We remain persuaded that the forces of evil pervading our country will not thrive perpetually. There is certainly a date in history for the truncation of the reign of evil and tyranny. The will of the people will always triumph!” he said.