Abure’s re-election as LP chairman is an illegality, says NLC

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) says Julius Abure’s re-election as chairman of the Labour Party (LP) is “an illegality”.

Abure was re-elected LP chairman on Wednesday at the party’s national convention which was held in Nnewi, Anambra state.

Ikechukwu Emetu, deputy governor of Abia state and chairman of the convention, declared Abure as the winner.

The convention was attended by party chairmen from the 36 states of the federation and the federal capital territory (FCT), members of states and national assemblies as well as representatives from LGAs.

The re-election of Abure came a week after members of the NLC picketed the LP secretariat in Abuja.

The protesting NLC members demanded the postponement of the party’s national convention.

The labour body accused Abure of “financial rascality and contempt for the leadership of NLC”, and of “unilaterally trying to hold a national convention in contravention of the constitution of the party”.

Reacting to Abure’s re-election, Benson Upah, spokesperson of the NLC, said “the whole exercise was a charade”.

“It is an illegality, a nullity. The whole exercise was a charade! Nothing can legitimise such brazen impunity,” The PUNCH quoted Upah as saying.

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Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it did not monitor the national convention of the Labour Party (LP).

Rotimi Oyekanmi, media aide to Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the conduct of the convention was not monitored by the electoral umpire.

Oyekanmi did not specify why INEC did not monitor the convention.

The convention was initially slated for March 29 but was later changed to March 27. The leadership of the party had said the date was changed because the initial day falls on Good Friday, a very important date for the Christian faithful across the world.

On March 17, the house of representatives caucus of the LP called for the suspension of the convention to enable the party to “properly plan” the event.