The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for the immediate resignation of the Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, amid allegations of mismanagement, clandestine scheduling of a national convention and financial impropriety within the party.
In a statement by the chairperson of NLC Political Commission, Titus Amba, and its Secretary, Chris Uyot, the congress noted that it received news of the clandestine scheduling of a supposed national convention of the Labour Party in March 2024 by the National Chairman, Abure.
“The leadership of the NLC were never in any way informed of any plans to hold the national convention. We find this development as further aberration and extrapolation of the mismanagement of the Labour Party through a very strange leadership style of sole administration by the national chairman of the party.”
The NLC highlighted the lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the leadership style of Abure, accusing him of running the party as a “sole administrator,” contrary to the principles of solidarity and camaraderie espoused by the party.
According to them, Abure’s actions directly contradict a consent judgment by Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, which mandated the Labour Party to hold an all-inclusive national convention. Despite agreements reached with organised labour, Abure has allegedly failed to fully implement the court’s directives, including the recognition of statutory membership and the constitution of the board of trustees.
“The continued refusal of the national chairman of the Labour Party to showcase the leadership qualities epitomised in the founding ideology of the Labour Party presents him as unfit for the position he desperately wishes to cling to.
“It is on this note that the leadership of the NLC passes a vote of no confidence in Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party. We demand his resignation immediately and we demand the constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention of LP. This cannot be hurriedly done as it is required that conventions are done at ward, local government and state levels before a national convention is contemplated.”
In addition to issues of governance, allegations of financial impropriety have also surfaced, with the National Treasurer, Oluchi Opara, accusing Abure of diverting party funds totalling N3.5 billion.
However, Abure had dismissed the allegations as baseless and issued a six-month suspension as disciplinary action against Opara.