The crisis rocking the Labour Party deepened on Thursday as seven members of the National Working Committee of the party announced the replacement of the suspended chairman of the party, Julius Abure with the National Vice Chairman (South), Lamidi Apapa, as the acting chairman of the party.
As at the time of this report, stern-looking police officers had taken over the national secretariat of the party in Abuja.
Speaking after an emergency meeting held at the party’s secretariat, Apapa said the NWC members acted on the judgment of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, which, on Wednesday, restrained Abure from parading himself as the National Chairman of the LP.
The PUNCH reported that apart from Abure, the court also restrained the party’s National Secretary, Umar Ibrahim; the National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara; and the National Organising Secretary, Clement Ojukwu.
They were accused of forgery.
Apapa told journalists that the NWC also reviewed the suspension of party members and exco that had earlier been suspended by the party leadership.
The three other officials restrained were also replaced by Alhaji Saleh Lawal (acting National Secretary), Rowland Daramola (acting Treasurer) and Reuben Favour (acting Organising Secretary).
“With effect from now, the so-called officers who the court has barred should not parade themselves as officers of the party until cases against them are treated or handled by the party,” Apapa stated.
He also denied the allegation that the party had been infiltrated by the ruling All Progressives Congress, saying the current leadership believes extensively in the presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi.
Earlier, Abure, however, had in a statement, raised an alarm accusing the All Progressives Congress of using thugs and a detachment of the Nigeria Police Force to invade the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
The embattled LP chairman alleged that the invaders who were armed reportedly pulled down the fences, doors and windows to gain access into the secretariat and in the process sacked workers and party members.
Abure said, “Though I was out of town, information has it that the agenda of the invaders was to inaugurate an illegitimate executive which has been chosen for them by their sponsors.
“This incident is coming days after a similar invasion of our Imo State secretariat, which, up till now, is still being occupied by the agents of the Imo State government.
“Only yesterday (Wednesday), our presidential candidate, Peter Obi, through the LP Presidential Campaign Council alerted Nigerians of a plot to hound him out of the country over APC’s covert plot in collaboration with some security agents to frame him for matters bordering on treason.
“Labour Party is only a political party which is contesting for power. The Independent National Electoral Commission, having conducted election ranked us third, a position we have rejected and have approached the tribunal to contest. That is our only offence.
“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to caution his party, the APC and also rein then in from using unorthodox means to suffocate political structures in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, the 32 state chairmen of LP, on Thursday, passed a vote of confidence in Abure to continue to lead the party.
The 32 state chairmen, who converged in Benin, the Edo State capital, chanted solidarity songs, saying opposition parties were using a few bad eggs within the PL to create internal crisis.
The Kwara State LP chairman, Chief Rotimi Kehinde, said Abure’s removal would not stand because it didn’t follow the party’s constitution.
He said, “We are in Benin in solidarity with our National Chairman, Julius Abure, and passed a vote of confidence in him.
“It is clear that these crop of persons claiming to have suspended the National Chairman of our party have long left the party and do not have the right to suspend the chairman.
“Abure has put in so much effort to bring the party to the limelight and based on that, we are fully behind him as our national chairman until the expiration of his tenure.”
The Edo State LP Chairman, Kelly Ogbaloi, said the crisis in the party was the handiwork of the opposition to distract the LP from recovering its allegedly stolen mandate in the general elections.
He said, “As leaders in our various states, we are reaffirming our unalloyed support for Abure as our authentic national chairman.”
