Leadership of the Labour Party (LP) has suspended the National Treasurer, Oluchi Okpara, for six months over her recent fraud and abuse of office allegations against the party and its National Chairman, Julius Abure.
Okpara, at a press conference, on Monday, accused Abure of financial malfeasance and challenged the the national chairman to account for the more than N3.5 billion the LP made from the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms during the 2023 general election.
Speaking at a news conference, yesterday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, refuted every accusation made by Okpara against Abure, asserting that she had been a mole inside the party who connived with outside forces to bring it down.
The treasurer, according to Obiora, disregarded the constituted authority that was put in place by the party to look into her allegations and handle the problem internally when she went ahead with the press conference.
He said she also ignored a Wednesday summons from the disciplinary committee that was established by an emergency national working committee (NWC) to look into her case.
The spokesperson also accused Okpara of demanding a brand-new car, a duplex in the highbrow area of Abuja and a huge sum as her price when the party begged her to be calm and let the committee it had established to look into the accusations she had made.
He said: “It is no longer news that a few months ago, five members of the NWC of the party chose to be agents of disintegration and the whole nation stood by us as we flushed them out. Smarting from that euphoria, little did we know that the fumigation was far from complete until late last year when signs emanate that Opara, a key member of the executive, turned to be a mole in the house and has continued networking with the expelled members of the party leadership.
“The NWC as one of its mandates to resolve any crisis in the party through its internal mechanism’s procedure, met last Friday and raised a five-man investigation committee to take a critical look at the allegations that emanated from the national treasurer with the mandate to within one month resolve the impasse and make recommendation to the committee of the whole.
“The national treasurer and, indeed, all members of the NWC were present at the meeting and endorsed the committee. It was, indeed, a rude shock that in total disregard to the NWC position and troubleshooting efforts, that the national treasurer, three days after reneged on the understanding that all attacks and diatribes cease for peace to rein.
“The national treasurer, on Monday, also disregarded a constituted authority of the party by addressing a world press conference where she disparaged the person of our national chairman and also brought the party to opprobrium.
Not satisfied with the public humiliation, the national treasurer, on the following day, appeared in an ARISE television programme to further disrepute the party and misinformed millions of viewing public on the internal affairs of the party against the rules and regulations of the party.
“Convinced that the national treasurer is on a mission to stifle life out of our very cherished party, an emergency NWC was summoned yesterday. Arising from the meeting, the NWC set up a disciplinary committee to try Opara for bringing the party to disrepute.
“At the meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, in exercise of its powers as contained in the party’s constitution with the intention of a fair hearing, the NWC extended an invitation to the national treasurer to appear before it yesterday by 10am (12 hours) to discuss the recent development. The party regrets that the national treasurer shunned the invitation by the disciplinary committee, to clear herself and her actions.
“We see this as an affront to the party leadership and millions of our members who are watching on how their party’s image which they have laboured hard to build is trolled by one ingrate. The disciplinary committee has, however, recommended to the national executive council of the party, through the NWC, that Opara be suspended from the Labour Party for a minimum of six months. This suspension is with immediate effect.
“We sincerely regret this development. We, however, urge our members to understand this is a price to pay for success. We will continue to reform the party until we achieve the best, good enough to drive our New Nigeria agenda.”