By Ayo Kehinde
Former Minister of Finance Esther Nenadi Usman has emerged the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, following a well- attended reconciliation meeting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, hosted by Governor Alex Otti.
The party constituted a 29-member national caretaker committee at a massively-attended stakeholders meeting held Wednesday, at the Banquet Hall of the Abia State Government House in Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
The Julius Abure faction of the party stayed away holding on to the fast crumbling elective March 2023 National Convention held in Nnewi, Anambra State, where he and other members of his National Working Committee (NWC), re-elected themselves.
Consequently, the Labour Party, along with its stakeholders, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), denounced the convention and suspended Abure and members of his NWC, on the grounds that Abure violated a Justice Omotosho of the Federal High ruling in 2021, which bound signatories to conduct a convention starting from the ward, state and national Congresses. The signatories included the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Abure and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
That is why the NLC and stakeholders agreed to set up a transition committee headed by former NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar to supervise the party on the basis of the agreement and the INEC on three recent occasions failed to invite Abure to meetings with political parties and on one occasion walked him out.
It was at this instance that Governor Otti had to organize the reconciliation meeting which held on Wednesday.
However, in reaction, Obiora Ifoh, the national publicity secretary of the Abure-led faction of the party, rejected the caretaker committee, insisting that Abure remains the legitimate national chairman.
Ifoh described Usman’s appointment as “illegal and unconstitutional”. He insisted that the party’s constitution empowers only Abure to call a meeting of the National Working Committee, NCW and National Executive Committee of the party and in his absence, the Secretary General.
