The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has clarified that the constitution of the party and not a governor removed the embattled former national chairman of the party, Julius Abure, because his tenure has elapsed.
Obi, who was represented by his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, gave the clarification at the inaugural meeting of the caretaker committee of the party held in Abuja Tuesday night.
Obi called on Abure and his team to sheath their swords and join hands with the Caretaker Committee to rebuild the party.
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His words: “Listen my friend, no governor unseated Abure. The constitution unseated him, Abure’s time elapsed. Nobody unseated him. As at today, Abure is our good friend, and a loyal member. We want him back in the fold, we have roles for him to play.
“We didn’t have crisis. We managed a transition which was a bit bumpy and that was it. I tell you. No other political party of our size could do that in the time and manner that we did.
“We are a political party who went all the way to the Supreme Court claiming our 10 million votes. They were only able to give us six million votes. So we are a force to contend with in Africa. What we’ve done has never been done before. When PDP came they had the military. We had nothing.
“We started, it was organic, it was us. It was Nigerian people. It was ‘obidients’ and we defeated two existing political parties to the best of our submission in the courts.”
Obi stressed that he was not surprised with the present economic crisis rocking the nation, saying the party warned Nigerians of the impending disaster if the All Progressive Congress (APC) is in charge of the country.
He assured the audience that the opposition party was ready to repeat and surpass the feat recorded during the 2023 elections in 2027 by producing a majority in the National Assembly and winning the presidential seat in 2027.
Obi added: “What is more, we are buoyed by the fact that we warned Nigerians of the failure of APC, the dangers of APC is happening. They are failing more on the Nigerian economy. They are destroying the security of Nigeria. Every day in the news you reported it, our citizens are abducted. They are killed in hundreds in villages.
“We warned Nigerians this was going to happen. Desperate people took the victory of Labour Party. What did they do with it? Our currency value was again destroyed. Security destroyed. Hunger in the land. Fuel removal of subsidies managed very very poorly, aggravated corruption continued lies and lies and lies.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the LP National Caretaker Committee, Senator Nenadi Usman, assured party members of the committee’s determination to rescue the party from the current challenges, restore and rebuild it as a veritable alternative platform for Nigerians.
She stated the committee’s readiness to lead the party to the path of reconciliation within the short time of its assignment.
According to Usman, “We are on a rescue mission, not just for the Labour Party, but I tell you for our dear nation Nigeria. The interest this committee has generated extends beyond party lines.
“The number of telephone calls I have received not just from Labour Party members, but people from other political parties who told me that if we get this thing right, we will walk together. So we have a huge task.
“Our party by the grace of Almighty God will become a platform for all disenfranchised and unhappy Nigerians. People who are not happy with the way things are going, we are going to be the platform for them by the grace of God. Therefore, we must view this significant national assignment.”
Also, the Deputy Governor of Abia State, Ikechukwu Emetu, who represented Governor Alex Otti, charged committee members to work for the growth of the party and shun acts that could be detrimental to its interest.
In his submission, the Secretary of the Committee, Senator Darlington Nwokocha, said the committee would work hard within its time frame to produce elected ward, LGA, states and national officers for the party.
“We have started already, it is something we are working hard to achieve. The organs of the party at all levels will come on board soon, depending on the elasticity of what we are doing, but we want to do a good job, we will do the proper sensitization, advocacy, consultation, consensus building and so many other legitimate things from the grassroots to the top, to making sure that the proper people are being put in place of leadership, elected from the ward to local government, to states and the national convention,” he stated.
