The leadership of the Labour Party National Transition Committee (LP-NTC) has warned Barrister Julius Abure and other members of his group not to risk jail terms and to respect the court’s judgment regarding the expiration of his tenure as the former Chairman of the Party in 2023, which disqualifies him from organizing legitimate elections within the party.
Consequently, the LP-NTC is urging the general public, especially members of the Labour Party throughout Nigeria, to avoid any dangers that could jeopardize their political careers by dissociating themselves from sudden unconstitutional wards, local government, and state congresses being conducted by Abure and others.
A statement signed by Alhaji Abdulwaheed Omar, Chairman of the Labour Party National Transition Committee (LP-NTC), over the weekend, asserted that any ward, local government, and state elections conducted in all the states of the Federation by the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC)—particularly in states like Anambra, Imo, Edo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, Ondo, Kaduna, and Adamawa—remain null and void in the eyes of the law.
The LP-NTC further pointed out that the ward, local government areas, and state congresses allegedly being organized in several states by the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) would be futile, as Abure has lost the authority to organize further legitimate elections for the Labour Party, stressing that such efforts would only result in a waste of funds and human resources.
The LP-NTC warned that any elections organized by Julius Abure are illegal and represent another scheme to extract money from innocent, misinformed members of the Labour Party and the general public.
“The reported congress venture by Barr Abure and his others are also acts of blatant disobedience to an irrevocable court judgment of the Abuja Federal High Court delivered on March 20, 2018, by Honourable Justice Gabriel Kolawole”.
Furthermore, Committee said that the current Abure Congress expedition is also a violation of the Nigeria Electoral Act, the operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigeria Constitution which ultimately regulates the affairs of political parties.
“Recall that the INEC, the Labour Party leader Mr. Peter Obi, the elected Labour Party members of States/National Assemblies and other informed, law-abiding stakeholders of our party nationwide boycotted, did not recognize and have since consistently dissociated themselves from the fraudulent Nnewi convention based on which Julius Abure and his cohorts claim authority to act as National Executive (NEC) Council and National Working Committee (NWC) of Labour Party to conduct congresses.
“Also recall that to make their positions clear beyond doubt on the illegitimacy of Abure’s unlawfully concocted Nnewi convention of March 27, 2024, INEC through the commission’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Rotimi Oyekami, Mr Peter Obi himself reiterating through his spokesman, Dr Yunusa Tanko, and other stakeholders publicly dissociated themselves in both formal print and electronic media from the Nnewi gathering.
“Ironically, it is on that multi-institutionally condemned, rejected, dismissed and invalid, illegal convention that Julius Abure and his friends of the Labour Party rely on as their authority to conduct congresses of the party and to engage themselves to, uninformed Labour Party members and the Nigerian public as the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.
“Furthermore, in stark contravention of INEC guidelines for the conduct of congresses by political parties and contrary to the false information being dished out to the public and uninformed Labour Party members, we have on good authority that just like their Nnewi convention charade, INEC did not approve the so-called congresses of Abure”.
