By The New Diplomat Political desk
Former spokesperson for the Labour Party’s Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Council, Kenneth Okonkwo, has weighed in on the internal crisis rocking the Labour Party.
The popular Nollywood actor turned politician has fingered the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure as the reason for the crisis rocking the party.
Okonkwo who spoke with the press on Thursday accused Abure and other members of the National Executive Committee of the party of engaging in secrecy and inappropriate conducts.
According to him, the National Convention held by Abure in Nnewi Anambra State is proof that he is not carrying members of the party along in the decision-making process of the LP.
This as Okonkwo called on the security agents in the country to immediately apprehend Abure and other members he described as “cohorts”.
He explained that the purported National Convention held in Anambra state has been denied by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), hence, Abure has no right to claim the chairmanship position of the Labour Party.
Lamenting the rot in the party, the legendary actor said that even as a former spokesperson of the party at the presidential level he didn’t know about the purported convention until he saw a leaked letter to the INEC on social media.
He questioned why Abure and his cohorts chose to organise a secret meeting and call it a party convention where they did not want the public and even the media to cover it, yet they returned themselves as the National Working Committee (NWC) of LP.
He said: “Abure’s tenure has expired a long time ago. What is this month? If it is this month why did he go to organise a fake national convention and swear himself in? Which month again? That means he terminated his tenure before expiration. Has the Labour Party advertised in any media that they are having a convention? I am and I was a spokesperson at the presidential level and I did not know that my party was having a convention. That must be a ‘Voodoo convention’.
“When I saw it in the social media leak letter they wrote to INEC, I was the one who called them because I thought it was fake. I say sir what is going on – it is Umuahia today they will reject them in Umuahia because it is a leprosy convention, you don’t accept leprosy convention, they will run to Edo, Edo will reject them they will run to Anambra… What is done like that? A national party that more than 6 million persons voted for and they went and the next thing we heard and saw was where they were raising their hands that they had been sworn in.
“Have you ever seen in any party where the whole NWC members were returned? Nobody contested even one position. It is simply a joke and they don’t even have the shame to come out to say they did convention. You wouldn’t see anybody there voting or who votes. Gang of criminals and you don’t have shame to come out to say you did national convention. What are you going to tell over 6 million persons who voted for you? The whole members, people wanting to come in you want to tell them that they wouldn’t even have the right to choose who their leaders are and you want them to join your party? You are a joker.
“Those people; they are clowns. Greatest joke I have ever seen in any political party and then you want to position yourself as a party of integrity. You don’t give what you don’t have. Abure and cohort their tenure is over. Are you calling me to support what I don’t know? Do you call me to even tell me you are going to have a national convention? So what will I tell people? Jesus Christ will say on judgement day, get behind me you worker of iniquity, I don’t know you.
“Let Julius Abure and all his cohorts get behind me; they are workers of iniquity I don’t know them. They did not even allow the journalists to come in when they were doing the so-called convention that is a secret society. The executive they are now in charge of is a secret society. They should be apprehended so that they will tell the world what they did in that place because party politics is supposed to be an open and transparent thing everybody is supposed to be there.
“The world is supposed to be seeing what you are doing. That is what the constitution said, internal democracy. That is what INEC will do, if INEC recognises Abure and all those things then know that they collected money to do it. Because they said if you don’t give INEC notice it is invalid, that is the law in Section 82.”
“…because Peter Obi when he was talking did not use the word “I have come to endorse this person.” I did not hear it. That does not mean in any way that I am supporting that he ever put his leg there because even the body language of a leader matters. It was not right that he should even step his leg there. Because when you get in there and probably he went there alone they have the right to come to say anything they want and because of that evidence that you were there it will now be you struggling to explain yourself.”
The New Diplomat reports that the Labour Party has been witnessing a crisis over the past few months.
Several stakeholders in the Labour Party had demanded the resignation of the party’s chairman, Barrister Julius Abure over allegations of misappropriation of the party’s funds and misuse of power.
Also, Abure is facing a supremacy battle with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero.
Recall that the NLC had called for Abure’s resignation as party chairman and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee, over his failure to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.
The situation took another dramatic turn when Abure was purportedly suspended in a letter dated May 14, 2024, by his Ward in the Arue-Uromi area of Esan North-East Local Government in Edo State for alleged high-handedness and anti-party activities.
However, the National Working Committee of the party kicked against the action, declaring the suspension as illegal and unconstitutional.
