The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared the national convention of the Labour Party (LP) that re-elected Julius Abure as the party’s National Chairman null and void.
The decision was reached at a stakeholders’ meeting held on Monday in Abuja.
A communique issued after the meeting directed the NLC to establish a transition committee to oversee the party’s affairs until new officers are elected within three months.
The meeting, attended by notable figures including Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, Abdulwahed Omar, Sylvester Ejiofor, Dr. Moses Paul, and Chief Yohana Margif, highlighted the need for an all-inclusive and expansive national convention.
The stakeholders expressed a need for more confidence in the leadership purportedly elected at the convention held in Nnewi, Anambra, and deemed it inconsequential.
They called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and relevant security agencies to recognise the transition committee as the interim leadership of the Labour Party pending the conduct of a legitimate convention.
Furthermore, the committee is tasked with taking over the Labour Party’s secretariats nationwide, initiating an assets recovery process, and addressing fraud and forgery within the party.
It is mandated to organise an inclusive national convention within three months, from ward congresses to a grand event in Abuja.
The communique read: “Owing to the current vacuum in the leadership of the Labour Party, the NLC Political Commission consequent on its status in the Constitution of the Labour Party as a registered trustee of the Labour Party, a status that was further buttressed by a Federal High Court consent judgment delivered on March 20, 2018 by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, moved for an immediate constitution of a transition committee with a mandate to set up structures at national, state, local government and ward level for the conduct of an all-inclusive and expansive national convention of the Labour Party.
“The stakeholders meeting passed a vote of no-confidence on the purported Labour Party national convention held in Nnewi, Anambra and regards as inconsequential the leadership that claims to have emerged from the illegal Nnewi Convention.
“INEC and all relevant security organisations are hereby notified and should be officially written immediately to recognise the transition committee as the interim leadership of LP pending the conduct of an all-inclusive and expansive national convention.
“The committee, once constituted, should fully take over the secretariats of the Labour Party all over Nigeria and shall immediately set up an assets recovery process of all the properties of the Labour Party.
“The committee shall also ensure that all the cases of fraud, impersonation, and forgery of government documents pending against a few discredited former officers of the Labour Party are forensically audited and culprits are diligently prosecuted as demanded by the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi. Unfortunately, the actions of these few dishonourable characters have splashed mud on the white satin of the Labour Party.
“Pursuant to the foregoing, the committee shall, within three months of its constitution, ensure the conduct of an inclusive national convention of the party starting from ward congresses to local government congresses to state congresses culminating in an all-inclusive and expansive national convention in Abuja. Finally, we reiterate that the Labour Party is a Party for all Nigerians regardless of ethnic, religious, regional, social and economic orientation or status.”
