Alhaji Lamidi Bashir Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has suspended National Working Committee (NWC) members that attended a summit orgainsed by Julious Abure-led faction in Asaba, Delta State.
It also pardoned its presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his running mate, Dr Datti Baba Ahmed as well as other elected members who attended the summit. The party leadership says the NWC members were suspended for disobeying the court order.
This decision was contained in a communique issued at the end of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi State yesterday.
“That NEC has suspended the following National Working Committee (NWC) members over contempt of the FCT High Court Restraining by participating in the illegal NEC meeting convened by Barr Julius Abure on 18th April 2023 in Asaba Delta state and recommended them for disciplinary committees to try them on fraudulent and anti-party activities over the illegal, null and voided Gubernatorial primaries in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states conducted on 15th Aril, 2023 as directed by Barr Julius Abure and Umar Farouk Ibrahim parading themselves as National Chairman and National Secretary.
“That the NEC in session pardoned and forgave the 2023 presidential candidate of labour party Peter Obi, Vice Presidential Candidate Senator Yusuf Datti, Mr Alex Otti, Governor-Elect of Abia state, all the senators, MHR and state Assembly members elected on the labour party platform for attending the illegal NEC meeting of 18th April 2023 in Asaba Delta state organized by the restrained Barr Julius Abure,” the party’s leadership said.
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This according to the party, was to help to the successful reclaiming of the stolen mandate at the Presidential election petition tribunal.
Apapa was the deputy national Chairman of the Labour Party before things fell apart, where the embattled Chairman Julius Abure and his cohorts were restrained to be parading themselves as national officers of the party that came third with 6,101,553 votes in the 2023 Presidential race and survived with one governor-elect.
The FCT High Court’s ruling on 5th April 2023, delivered by Justice Hamza Muazu, barred embattled Abure, Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Oluchi Opara and Clement Ojukwu, from further functioning as National Chairman, National Secretary, National Treasurer and National Organising Secretary of the party, restrictively.
The restraining order followed an ex-parte application brought before the court by eight aggrieved party members. Abure was dragged to the court over alleged forgery, perjury and conspiracy.
Abure’s led faction, however, in a separate conflicting injunction, the Edo State High Court sitting in Benin restrained the party and all its members from any suspension of its national officers till the determination of the motion on notice, and no date has been fixed for hearing.
He declared the former deputy as an impostor and said any party activities under Apapa including Bauchi’s scheduled NEC meetings as illegal.
Alhaji Apapa had insisted that the Bauchi summit would be held “to right the wrongs and illegality” perpetrated by Abure, stressing that he remained the acting chairperson of the party.
The Bauchi meeting was attended by members of the NWC, State Chairmen, State Secretaries, National Assembly members-elect, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), And Trade Union Congress (TUC) among other participants.
The session also extended the tenure of the current NWC for 6 months.
“That NEC in session considered the expiration of the current National Working Committee that will lapse in June 2023 and stated inter alia, it is the considered opinion of NEC and in view of recent events in our party, considering the controversies and bad blood generated by elective convention, conscious of the numerous court cases; presidential, governorship, senatorial, and house of assemblies, the need to remain focused and reorganize the party, it is most inappropriate to convene a national convention in view of numerous internal negative forces within the party. Consequently, NEC in session extended the tenure of the current NWC for 6 months,” it added.
The party faithful wrapped up the session by giving a vote of confidence to the Apapa-led National Working Committee.
