The Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has withdrawn the automatic ticket it previously reserved for the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi and Abia State governor, Alex Otti for the 2027 election.
This was made known in a resolution after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the partys National Secretariat in Abuja.
The party said that it has thrown open all its tickets, from the presidency to the house of assemblies to all qualified Nigerians.
The turnaround came after the stakeholders meeting in Umuahia, Abia State, where key Labour Party leaders, including Obi and Abia governor Otti, alongside elected senators and House of Representatives members, appointed a 29-member caretaker committee to temporarily oversee the party and asked the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure to step aside.
Reacting to the development, Abure, and national secretary, Umar Ibrahim, in conjunction with the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party nullified the decision taken at the stakeholders meeting convened by Otti in Umuahia.
The Abure-led NEC, declared that the party’s leadership remains intact.
According to the NEC, this assertion follows the successful conduct of the national convention on March 27, 2024, in Nnewi, Anambra State, in compliance with the party’s constitution, Electoral Act, and Nigeria’s Constitution.
It consequently called on the chairman of INEC, Mahmud Yakubu, “to stop aiding and abetting the governor of Abia State Alex Otti, to further cause damage to the party.
“NEC in session also noted that Governor Otti has constantly quoted the INEC chairman as saying that the tenure of the officers of the party had expired, which the governor said necessitated his calling of the meeting and setting up a caretaker committee.
“On the basis of the foregoing therefore, NEC in session hereby calls on all teeming members, supporters and members of the general public to kindly disregard the so-called meeting and its outcome,” the NEC stated.
The crisis in the Labour Party deepened on Wednesday, September 4 when a section of the party led by Obi and Otti announced the composition of a 29-man caretaker committee to be chaired by former minister of finance, Nenadi Usman, who is also a former senator.
The immediate-past Senate deputy minority leader, Darlington Nwokocha, was also appointed to serve as secretary to the committee which will midwife an election of a new leadership of the party within the next 90 days.
According to Ukoha Njoku, chief press secretary to Abia state governor, the caretaker committee’s terms of reference include conducting Ward, local government, state congresses, and national convention in accordance with the party’s constitution.
