Abure Fights Back, Dissolves Obi, Otti, Backed Abia LP Leadership

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The Julius Abure-led National Working Committee, NWC, faction of the Labour Party has announced the dissolution of the Abia State Interim Leadership Committee SWC.

The sack of the Abia SWC was contained in a letter addressed to the Independent National  Electoral Commission, INEC, by the Abure-led faction,dated Monday October 14, 2024 .

The letter which was jointly signed by Abure and the factional National Secretary, Umar Farouk Ibrahim, also appointed a-15 member Caretaker Committee headed by Dr G. O. Ndubueze to run the affairs of the Party.

They informed that the appointment of the Interim Committee for the only State which the party controls takes immediate effect.

According to the Abure-led NWC, the newly appointed Caretaker Committee will be in place for three months within which period a substantive leadership will be enthroned.

“In exercise of the power bestowed upon  by the Labour Party Constitution ,Article 13 ,3,B ,vi, to dissolve and reconstitute State Executive Council/State Working Committee where necessary, pending the next state Congress,

the National Working Committee hereby dissolves and appoints a Caretaker Committee to pilot the affairs of the party in Abia state” part of the letter reads.

The Source reports that the party had, on September 4, 2024, been thrown into  an open leadership crisis, following the supplanting of the Abure-led NWC with the Esther Nenadi Usman led 29 member interim National Committee.

The Party had before then been sharply divided, following its Nnewi National Convention in March this  year.

The hotly disputed and widely boycotted Convention threw up a second tenure leadership for the Abure-led NWC.

The Convention was, however, shunned by a majority of the Party’s major stakeholders, including Peter Obi, its 2023 Presidential Candidate, his running mate Yusuf Datti-Ahmed, Dr Alex Otti, the only Governor elected on its platform, the National Assembly caucus of the party ,and others.

They unanimously and overwhelmingly, accused the Abure leadership of not carrying them along in the countdown to the Convention.

The pre-Convention disagreement was to snowball into a full blown crisis ,with many of the aggrieved members including Obi, shunning all LP activities.

The situation was, however, exacerbated by the refusal of INEC to do business with the Abure led NWC. The electoral umpire had insisted that, the tenure of the Abure”s NWC had elapsed in June this year .

Faced with mounting threats of the party relapsing into a moribund State, major stakeholders led by Obi and Governor Otti had to convene the September 4, Umuahia enlarged National Executive Council meeting.

But the appointment of the Nenadi Usman led Interim, National leadership has been been rejected ,by Abure, who has insisted on the sanctity of the mandate given to his leadership in Nnewi.

Only last Wednesday October, 9, 2024, an Abuja Federal High Court  validated the election of the Abure leadership in Nnewi ,declaring it the  authentic NWC .

However, the Conveners of the Umuahia enlarged stakeholders meeting has gone on appeal to challenge the trial court ruling,a development which Abure group has described as null and void .

In an interview with the Punch on Sunday October 13, factional Spokesperson, Obiora Ifoh ,maintained that the Nenadi Usman leadership is unknown to extant laws and as such  lacks the locus standi to mount any legal challenge of both the Nnewi Convention and the Abuja Court verdict affirming the Abure led NWC as the authentic leadership of the party.

Sounding boastful, Ifoh noted that the party is not in  anyway perturbed by the move to challenge the Abuja court ruling.

He further informed that all the Principal actors in the Umuahia enlarged NEC meeting including Obi ,Governor Otti, are not parties in the suit.

“It would be unfortunate if they toe that line (appeal) because you can not appeal a judgment that you are not a party to .

“The Caretaker Committee is not a body known to the Labour party Constitution .It is not a body known to the electoral law or the Constitution of the Nigeria .So they do not even have a locus ” the factional spokesman stated.

“But before the Abuja High Court verdict, the two factions ,had engaged in a battle of wits in Abia state over the November 2, scheduled local council polls.

“The subject of struggle was between the Abure and Usman NWC, which has the right to submit names of candidates of the party  for the election.

“The Abure group had last week ,submitted a  conflicting list  to the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission ABSIEC ,a development which prompted the Usman leadership to put up a disclaimer.

The Emma Otti led Abia LP Caretaker Committee, had in a letter cautioned the ABSIEC and the general public about any dealing with the Abure group led by  its National Vice Chairman South East Ceekay Igara .

Hon Igara, until the disputed Nnewi Convention was the Chairman of LP in the State even before the 2023 general election.

The two groups had, also, printed and sold expression of interest and nomination forms simultaneously.

In an interview with this Magazine last Friday October, 11, Engr Darlington Enyinnaya the State Organizing Secretary of the group loyal to the Usman leadership  dismissed the prospect of the party being negatively affected in the forthcoming Local  election by the present crisis.

As at the time of  reporting, the Usman-led NWC was yet to react to the purported dissolution of the State interim leadership.