The crisis rocking Labour Party snowballed, Wednesday, as the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, stormed the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, pressing for the abortion of the national convention slated for month-end, insisting that the embattled National Chairman, Julius Abure, must go.
Things have been ill at ease in the party for some time now as the NLC leadership had consistently accused Mr. Abure of plotting to hold a “secret” convention at the exclusion of the party’s major stakeholders.
Others have also insisted that Abure was not properly elected as Chairman, making his actions on the seat ultra vires.
The convention, scheduled for March 27, 2024, in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, had pitched the National Chairman against the NLC leadership and the House of Representatives caucus of the party.
Both NLC and the caucus felt Abure badly wanted to hold the convention with the sole purpose of returning him as the party’s sole administrator. Instead of the controversial convention, the protesters are pushing for the composition of a caretaker committee that would be saddled with the responsibility of organizing a “proper convention”.
Trouble has been pouring for Abure even from workers who have variously accused him of financial impropriety and working in cohort with some external influences to shred the party.
Both accusations have not been independently verified. And Abure has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Those in that school of thought fingered the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, which, they argued, became so threatened by Labour Party’s unprecedented surge in the last general elections that it swore to destabilize it.
Though the Nigeria Police Force was on hand to prevent any escalation of the protest, the protesting workers occupied the secretariat shouting anti-Abure slogans, waving placards dripping with invectives. But there was no official of the party is at the headquarters at the time.
