Six Enugu lawmakers dump LP amid party tussle with NLC
On Thursday, six delegates to the Enugu State House of Assembly who were chosen on the Labour Party platform switched to the Peoples Democratic Party.
This came when Sylvester Ejiofor, posing as the Chairman of the LP Board of Trustees, said on Thursday that Julius Abure had been replaced as the party’s head.
In the statement, Ejiofor disregarded Abure’s re-election on Wednesday at a convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, declaring that his term had ended.
The six Enugu LP MPs who left the party based their choice on the ongoing conflict within the party, citing the Nigeria Labour Congress’s recent picketing of the LP state offices as an example.
“Irreconcilable division, incessant crisis within the Labour Party at the national level and across all the state chapters” was one of the stated issues by the MPs.
Unfortunately, the party’s ability to effectively represent the interests of the people has been undermined by its evolution into a state of continual strife including numerous groups involved in legal disputes.
“Unfortunately, the Labour Party—once a ray of hope for progressive ideas—has come to be associated with internal disputes, which has diminished its ability to meet the expectations of voters.”
They brought up the struggle for leadership between the factions of the National Chairman of the LP, Julius Abure, and the factional National Chairman, Lamidi Apapa.
They thanked the Labour Party leadership for their support and expressed hope that the PDP would provide them with a platform to go on serving the interests of their people.
Chief Whip of the House and member of Igboeze North I, Ejike Eze; Leader of the House and member of Enugu North, Johnson Ugwu; and Member of Enugu South Rural, Princess Ugwu, were among the defectors.
Other members included Pius Ezeugwu, who represented Nsukka East; Amuka Williams, who represented Igbo-Etiti West; and Osita Eze, who represented Oji River.
Iloabuchi Aniagu made the initial motion for their defection, and Eneh seconded it.
Casmir Agbo, the party’s chairman for Enugu State, informed our correspondent over the phone that the party would meet on Thursday of next week to decide whether to defection.
In the meantime, Ejiofor, identifying himself as the LP BoT Chairman, said that the BoT had assumed control of the party in a statement released on Thursday.
“In accordance with the party’s constitution, the BoT has stepped in to steer the affairs of the LP following the expiration of the tenure in office of the immediate past National Working Committee of the LP headed by Mr. Julius Abure,” he stated. This action aims to prevent any vacancy in the LP’s leadership.
Additionally, the LP’s Board of Trustees will shortly announce the procedures for organizing a comprehensive and inclusive national convention after consulting with key party stakeholders.
This is in accordance with the consent ruling rendered by Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court on March 20, 2018, which acknowledged the Nigeria Labour Congress as the LP’s owner and ordered the holding of an inclusive and comprehensive national convention.
“The decision made by the BoT also advances the agreement that was signed on June 27, 2022, between the Trade Union Congress, the NLC, and Mr. Julius Abure, the former national chairman of the LP. The agreement was mediated by the Independent National Electoral Commission.”
However, in response, LP’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said that the Labour Party was unaware of the BoT.
“Ejiofor has neither attended any meeting nor played any noticeable role as a member of the Labour Party since he stepped down as the first national chairman of the party over two decades ago,” Ifoh stated in a statement released on Thursday.
“He is not even well-known in his ward, and he has not paid any dues, therefore he is not even eligible to be a member. It is unexpected that he abruptly woke up from his sleep after being “visited” by a few NLC leaders.
The key issue is that, as far as the Labour Party is concerned, no Board of Trustees exists. Recall that NLC has persisted in advocating for both the calling of the national convention and the rebuilding of the BoT.
“More than 90% of those who were recommended to become members of the proposed BoT have since quit the party to become members of other political parties. A few of them have even run for office on their platforms, and some of them have made significant appearances in the presidential campaigns of other political parties, even though the Labour Party will also have a candidate in the general election of 2023.
This is what may happen when NLC members become desperate. Let the man enjoy his retirement, please. Why include him in your chaos? Permit Ejiofor to present documentation from a single meeting he called during the final ten years of his purported BoT. Enough of flexing these political muscles; Julius Abure was been elected, for the first time, as the Labour Party’s national chairman by the convention. We beg those who oppose us to put down their swords and work with us to save the country.
