The headquarters of the Labour Party was on Thursday attacked while workers were chased away by suspected thugs in company of policemen. This is as a faction of the party swiftly took over the leadership of the party.
The national chairman of the party, Barrister Julius Abure in a statement, said, “Few minutes ago, the national headquarters of the Labour Party in Abuja witnessed massive attack and was broken into by a detachment of the Nigerian Police and thugs believed to be working for the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“The Invaders who are armed reportedly pulled down the fences, burglaries, doors and window to have access to our Secretariat and in the process sacked workers and party members who were at the Secretariat.
“Though, I was out of town but information has it that the agenda of the Invaders was to inaugurate an illegitimate executive which has been chosen for them by their sponsors.
“This incident is coming days after a similar invasion in our Imo state Secretariat which up till now is still being occupied by the agents of the Imo state government.
“Only yesterday, our Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi through the Presidential Campaign Council alerted Nigerians of plot to hound him out of the country over APC’s covert plot in collaboration with some security agents to frame him up allegedly on matters bothering on treason.
“Labour Party is only a political party which is contesting for power. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC having conducted election ranked us third, a position we have rejected and have approached the Tribunal to contest. That is our only offence.
“We therefore call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call his party, the APC to order and also rein then in from using unorthodox means to suffocate political structures in Nigeria.
“A court of competent jurisdiction only yesterday ordered that I, Julius Abure remains the National Chairman, and should not be restrained from performing my duties, it therefore baffles me why the Nigerian Police should allow itself to be used to perpetrate illegalities.
“We advice the Police, APC and their sponsors to play by the rules. We will no longer tolerate the often intimidation and deployment of brute forces against the party and their personnel. We demand they put a stop to abuse of power and respect the rights and privileges of other political parties, particularly, the Labour Party to contest for power.”
After the meeting of the faction, the Deputy National Chairman of the party (South) Lamidi Apapa who briefed the media said he is now the Acting National Chairman of the party while Saleh Lawan is the Acting National Secretary.
He said he has taken over the affairs of the party following a court judgment restraining Julius Abure and three others from parading themselves as national officers of the party.
According to him, Abure and the three others must vacate the order of the Federal High Court restraining them before further action can be taken on the leadership of the party.
The emergency NWC meeting also reinstated Executive Council members from Ogun State, Rivers State, and Gombe State.
During the meeting, Lamidi also reversed the suspension of Eragbe Anslem as the National Youth Leader and Yomi Arabambi as the National Publicity Secretary.
Meanwhile,The Labour Party in Lagos State has indefinitely suspended six of its chieftains, including the immediate past chairman, Mr Kayode Salako , over alleged anti-party and disparaging activities in the just-concluded elections.
The LP Secretary in the state, Mr Sam Okpala disclosed this at a news conference on Thursday at the party’s secretariat in Ikeja, Lagos.
Okpala listed the suspended leaders to include: Mr Moshood Salvador (LP Senatorial Candidate, Lagos West), Mr Mutiu Okunola (House of Ikeja Rep. Candidate), and Messrs Theodore Ezeunara, Mr Olumide Adesoyin and Opeyemi Taiwo.
He said the suspension followed the party’s reception and ratification of the report of the Disciplinary Committee set up to investigate the acts of anti-party activities leveled against the leaders.
Explaining that the decision was taken at the State Working Committee meeting heid on March 31, Okpala said the affected leaders had been found culpable of acts inimical to the progress of the LP.
He said: “Labour Party in Lagos state discovered that there were a lot of anti-party activities committed by people who claimed to be members of the party in Lagos state.
“Our post mortem of what really transpired and happened during the general elections revealed that a lot of people who called themselves members of the party were indeed working for the opposition.
“With that information, the LP in Lagos state set up a disciplinary committee headed by one of the deputy chairmen of the party to look into these allegations.
“As an obedient party that adheres to the rule of law, the committee gave everyone involved a fair hearing and opportunity to defend themselves and clear their names.
“At the end of the exercise, the report was tendered before the LP state working committee and at the meeting held on March 31, the report of the disciplinary committee was accepted and ratified for implementation.”
He said that out of the seven chieftains, involved, one Mr Sunbo Onitiri, said he had resigned his membership of the LP.
“In obedience to the relevant sections of our constitution, the party took the decision to suspend them from being members of the party with immediate effect.
“The essence is to serve as deterrent to others who may want to toe that inglorious path again,” he added.
Okpala said the party could not accept having enemies within its fold.
The scribe decried that the affected officers openly demonstrated solidarity and preference to work with and for the candidates of another party during the polls.
According to him, the affected leaders have consistently been disparaging/ denigrating the image of the party candidates as well as the state leadership of the party without decorum.
He said their actions had brought LP to disrepute, hence the suspension with immediate effect.
Okpala commended Lagos residents and Nigerians for believing in the LP’s vision and philosophy of bringing about a new Nigeria and for supporting the party in the Feb. 25 and March 18 general elections.
On the national leadership crisis of the party, Okpala said the Lagos state chapter would continue to stand with its LP National Chairman, Mr Julius Abure and other national officers.
He said that Court ex parte order, restraining the LP national chairman and five other national officers of the party from parading themselves as leaders of the party, were handiwork of detractors who wanted to stop the party from the mission to reclaim its alleged stolen mandate.
“We want to pass a vote of confidence on our national chairman and other leaders of the party. They have done so much for the party.
” The leaders have committed all they got to the success of the Labour Party,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was attended by the LP state working committee members. (NAN)
