Resign Now! – NLC Members Tell Abure, Picket LP Headquarters

BY EDMOND ODOK- The Rofo-Rofo fight to control the soul of the Labour Party (LP) between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Party leadership took a dramatic turn on Wednesday with the Labour Movement picketing the Party’s headquarters and Secretariats nationwide to demand the resignation of its embattled National Chairman, Julius Abure.

Deputy President of NLC Political Commission, Dr Theophilus Ndubuaku, who spoke when workers stormed the national headquarters of the Labour Party (LP) in Abuja, to express their displeasure with current party leadership and the perceived betrayal of the party’s foundational principles, said the picketing was to express workers’ grievances towards Abure’s style of administering the party.

Ndubuaku noted thus; “Nigeria is not the only country with a Labour Party backed by Organised Labour”, adding; “There are so many others. Why would our own be different? The essence of registering a Labour Party in this country is not only to become a president or hold an office but also to create a viable opposition.

“And in any country where there is no viable opposition, then there would be dictatorship. The reason we set up this party is to make us have good governance in this country.”

In demanding that Abure resign as the Party’s National Chairman, the Labour Centre accused him of converting LP to personal gains and straying from its ideology which NLC said was established to champion the cause of the working class and serve as an advocate for the betterment of Nigerians.

Also tackling Abure on alleged his unilateral scheduling of the National Convention without consulting the relevant stakeholders, the NLC stated further that; “There have been court judgements declaring Labour Party as being owned by the NLC and there has been intervention by INEC telling Abure to appoint BOT members and organize an all-inclusive convention.

“But what we now saw is a convention that we do not know who and who will be attending and the elected officers in the National Assembly thought he insulted them. You will not believe that a day before Abure issued the convention notice, he was with the NLC President and the Political Commission in the NLC office without telling them.

In his intervention, Acting General Secretary of the NLC, Comrade Ismail Bello, affirmed the Labour Movement’s resolve to take the party back and restore its original vision, even as he accused Abure of planning to conduct an illegal and secret National Convention of the party without the NLC’s involvement.

Meanwhile, available information indicates that the NLC Political Commission had earlier demanded that Abure quit as National Chairman over his “illegal” scheduling of the National Convention in March 2024 without due consultations with relevant stakeholders in the Party.

The Commission’s Chairperson, Comrade Titus Amba, and Secretary, Comrade Chris Uyot, accused Abure of making the move without any communication or consent from the Congress, describing the development as an “aberration” and a deviation from the party’s ethos of solidarity and camaraderie.

Additionally, they alleged that Abure is operating the party with a “Sole Administrator” mentality, and further criticised his leadership for refusing to align with the expectations of Nigerian workers and the general populace, who see the Labour Party as a beacon of hope against the betrayal by the country’s established political parties.

Besides passing a vote of no confidence on Abure and demanding his immediate resignation, the NLC is calling for a Caretaker Transition Committee (CTC) to organise a legitimate and inclusive Party’s National Convention in line with due process from the ward to the national level.

But in a swift reaction, the Labour Party described the forcible entry of NLC members into its headquarters and secretariat as “illegal and criminal”.