By Abiola Olawale
The ongoing crisis within the Labour Party has continued to deepen as the Chairperson of the party’s caretaker committee Senator Nenadi Usman, issued a bold challenge to the factional National Chairman Julius Abure.
Nenadi dared Abure to release any incriminating act she committed against her.
This comes after Abure had threatened to expose the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, Nenadi and several others over alleged mismanagement of the funds received during the 2023 General election.
Abure had stated: “I am waiting for them — from top to bottom — to make any other move and I will open my mouth.
“And when I open my mouth, wherever they go to, they will be like smelly eggs, rotten eggs that nobody will ever buy.”
Replying during an interview with Channels Television on Friday, Usman, a former minister of State for Finance, said Abure should make good his threat without further ado.
“Well, I am challenging him to expose us. If you have anybody to expose, you don’t go and talk now, you go and expose them,” she said.
She further declared that the reverse is the case that the party has records of Abure’s conduct and that some of his actions are already the subject of police investigations.
She continued: “We have a lot of things about him and that is why the people whom he did it with are being investigated by the police.
“The police are investigating him and very soon you will hear about it.”
Usman described the current crisis in the LP as an attack on internal democracy.
“Generally, you would agree with me that every democracy needs to have a vibrant opposition,” she said.
“So when the opposition wants to become part of the ruling party, then there’s a problem. And that is where we are today.”
The New Diplomat reports that the Labour Party has been embroiled in a leadership crisis, with Abure and his allies on one hand, and the caretaker committee led by Usman on the other.
The Usman committee is backed by Obi, Otti, and Ireti Kingibe, senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In April, the Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeal lacked the jurisdiction to pronounce Abure chairman of the LP.
Since the verdict, there have been various interpretations of the apex court’s pronouncement, with all factions claiming victory.
On May 7, the Abure-led faction suspended Otti and Kingibe indefinitely over alleged anti-party activities.
On May 9, the Usman-led faction suspended Abure and accused him of illegally parading himself as national chairman of the party despite being removed by the court.
