The Labour Party's Factional National Chairman Julius Abure, has dismissed speculations that reconciliation talks between his camp and Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, collapsed over alleged financial demands, insisting that money was never discussed during the closed-door meeting. Punch newspaper reported Wednesday.
The supreme Court sacked former chairman disclosed this in an interview with news men amid a lingering leadership crisis rocking the opposition party.
The National leader of the party and governor of Abia State Alex Otti had last month declared that the Labour Party remained open to reconciliation with Abure and his loyalists ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Otti had made the remark during the inaugural meeting of the party’s National Working Committee held at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, where he attended as an observer.
The party during the National Convention had absorbed some of his loyalists and through consensus appointed them into important NWC positions. Notable among them is Madam Hilda Dokubo who is now the National women's Leader of the party under Nenadi Esther Usman led National Working Committee.
But speaking with Newsmen , Abure clarified that the recent engagement with Otti was strictly convened to explore reconciliation and chart a path toward unity within the party, but eventually ended in a deadlock over disagreements surrounding the control and structures of the party while his loyalists are already penetrating the structures at all levels under Nenadi.
While He (Abure) said the talks failed because Otti allegedly insisted that the existing Abure's structure be dissolved before any reconciliation could move forward. Sources confirmed that already the Abure loyalists have infiltrated the ranks and files of the party's structures both at the national and States levels to deray and dislodge the Nenadi leadership by any means possible.
With the pressures from within now around the National Chairman, the decisions of the party at the national convention and congresses organized and approved at the convention are been jetitioned and disregarded as many state leadership under Nenadi are currently been discarded.
Certain sources with the party argued that if Abure and his followers would be absorbed into the legally and authentic structure of the Labour Party, it should be after all of Abure's litigation against the party at the supreme Court discarded. They urged Nenadi to be careful and keep her structures Nationwide.
Abure said : “We need to make it categorically clear that the meeting we had with Governor Otti was purely for reconciliation and how to forge ahead. But that meeting produced no headway because the governor refused to give an inch due to his earlier recalcitrant stand.
First, to share the positions in the NWC. Secondly, to take his governorship ticket and produce all the state House of Assembly candidates, including all the candidates for House of Representatives and Senate in Abia state.
Lastly, to produce any other governorship, House of Representatives and senatorial candidates in other states where he might have an interest.
“We further conceded the offices of the National Secretary and other key national offices. But with all these sacrifices from the leadership, the governor declined all the proposals and insisted that all positions in the NWC have already been filled by him, while offering us the Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Trustees.”
Abure also rejected allegations that he demanded financial inducement from the governor as part of the reconciliation process, describing the claims as false and deliberate misinformation.
“We also need to make it very clear that a lot of misconceptions have been spreading, probably deliberately, that the leadership of the Labour Party requested huge sums of money from Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti, to reconcile.
“At no time was the issue of money discussed. Nobody made any financial requests, and nobody offered any money to anyone. We are therefore calling on all party members and supporters to disregard the fake news, whose sources are not too difficult to decipher,” he clarified.
The factional chairman expressed disappointment over the outcome of the reconciliation effort, blaming what he described as Otti’s intransigence for the collapse of the talks.
Abure further stated that his leadership would continue efforts to “recover the party” from what he termed “political buccaneers and merchants” allegedly bent on destabilising the Labour Party.
While he expressed confidence that the lingering leadership dispute would eventually be resolved by the Supreme Court following the appeal filed at the apex court, his loyalists within the continually recognized Nenadi led NWC team are already doing internal damaging and strategic move to reposition the Abure structures within the system.
There were clear indications that neither of the two sides are not willing to support the Nigeria's incumbent President Bola Tinubu of the ruling APC. Members of Abure factions had more than two months ago declared support for the incumbent President, while Nenadi Esther Usman have not openly endorsed the president, members of her NWC from southern Zones have reportedly been routing for Tinubu while LP members in the National Assembly are also reportedly supporting the president.
The endless legal struggles and the victory secured from Court will become meaning if Abure can dislodged from within, and very useless if both agreed to work and support the anti people Leadership of Bola Hammed Tinubu.
Nigerians who are at the receiving end of the bad governance and who genuinely want a change of leadership in the country through any of the opposition political parties have to do a rethink and thorough re-evaluation.
No comments