By Kolawole Ojebisi
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, on Wednesday, recalled that he once tried to pacify Julius Abure to step down and accept the role of the chairman of the Labour Party’s Board of Trustees at the height of the leadership crisis purportedly resolved by the recent Supreme Court’s verdict.
Otti made the revelation while announcing the official receipt of the Certified True Copy of last Friday’s apex court judgement on the party’s leadership tussle.
The Abia governor said Abure allegedly turned down the prospect, saying he wanted nothing.
“But I gave Abure some piece of advice, saying if I were you, I wouldn’t want to lead people who don’t want me as a leader. So we are still extending the olive branch to him and his former National Working Committee. The leadership of every party should be humble enough to leave at the expiration of their tenure.
“Before I am done, may I appeal to political parties and their members to endeavour to always allow their constitutions, regulations and rules to guide them in choosing their officers and candidates.
“That way, the incessant internal wrangling which always finds its way to court will be reduced. The leadership of every party should be humble enough to leave at the expiration of their tenure,” he said.
On his part, Obi applauded his supporters and Nigerians for being patient and standing solidly behind them.
The former Anambra governor announced that they would move straight to the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission to update them about the presence of the CTC and have them replace Abure’s NWC.
He said, “As leaders and elected members of this great party, we are going to leave from here to INEC to submit this document (CTC) so that we can start the process.
“We will go there now and say, here are the documents from the court. This is our resolution. So can we now start the process of rebuilding with your cooperation.”
The leadership crisis in the LP has factionalized the party into Obi/Otti and Abure camps.
But the crisis was apparently resolved last Friday when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Obi/Otti camp.
