2 months ago
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There are fresh indications that the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, members of his National Working Committee and his loyalists would shun today’s stakeholders’ meeting summoned by Abia State Governor Alex Otti, The PUNCH gathered.
The planned boycott comes a few days after the party’s presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, threw his weight behind Otti to convene the meeting.
A source close to the camp of Abure, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to journalists, exclusively told our reporter that none of the NWC members would be in attendance.
“We won’t attend it. Were you not at last week’s briefing, where the national chairman subtly warned the governor and other party members to desist from meddling in the party administration? He meant every word he said that day.
“Now, we have been told not to entertain any question or speak on the issue again. It is wrong of Otti to summon a meeting of party chieftains or stakeholders without the approval of Abure. Have you seen anything like that happening in other parties like APC, PDP or even NNPP?” he queried.
Efforts to verify the report from the LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, and members of the NWC met a brick wall.
As of the time of filing this report, the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Umar Farouk, LP National Youth Leader, Kennedy Ahanotu, could also not be reached for reactions.
However, another member of the NWC reached out to our reporter via a terse text, confirming they won’t be honouring the meeting.
The terse text read, “Yes, we won’t be there.”
The PUNCH reported how Otti’s initial call for a meeting of the National Executive Committee was rebuffed by Abure, who warned him to stick to governance and stop attempting to pilot the party affairs.
The LP national chairman’s anger stemmed from a recent meeting he had with Otti where the Abia governor stated his intention to convene a NEC meeting on August 31 to dissolve the executives at the ward, local government, state and national levels on the purported ground that their tenures had expired.
But Abure kicked, saying it was not the position of the governor to consider taking such a decision.
Undeterred, the governor ignored the threat and rechristened the NEC as a ‘Stakeholders’ Meeting’, insisting it would take place on September 4 at the Government House in Umuahia, Abia State.
He disclosed this in a circular issued by the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Alex Otti on Public Communication, Dodoh Okafor.
The gathering is expected to have Obi, his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, members of the Julius Aburi-led National Working Committee, Abia deputy governor, as well as serving and former Senators who are members of the party in attendance.
Others include serving and former members of the House of Representatives, members of Houses of Assembly of States, five members of the Abure-led National Working Committee viz: National Chairman, Deputy National Chairman, Secretary, Woman Leader and Youth Leader, Gubernatorial candidates of Edo and Ondo states.
