LP crisis: Abure begs Obi, Otti, others to return

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has appealed to the party’s 2023 presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti and other aggrieved bigwigs to return to the party.Abure made the plea in an exclusive interview withSaturday PUNCH.The embattled chairman had been at loggerheads with chieftains and stakeholders of the party who kicked against his reelection on the ground that the controversial Nnewi convention that returned him to office wasn’t an all-inclusive and expansive one.Consequently, Obi, Otti and some party stakeholders in July this year, set up a 29-man caretaker committee.

The committee, headed by a former minister of finance, Nnenadi Usman, was saddled with a mandate to conduct an expanded election to birth new executives at the ward, local government, state and national levels.However, following his victory at a Federal High Court in Abuja, which reaffirmed him as the authentic LP national chairman, Abure has been making frantic efforts to win back the trust of the aggrieved party chieftains.Speaking with our correspondent, Abure debunked the reports that there was a crisis in the party.

He said, “I want to say there is no more crisis in the party. The court has said there is only one leader in LP. And if there is a dispute in the country or anywhere, the only place you can go for reprieve is the court. It was said that our national convention didn’t follow due process. That was why people went to court.“INEC said we didn’t follow due process and we went to court. The court said the convention was in line with the party constitution, electoral act and the constitution of the land. INEC has since obeyed it and we are working very closely with the commission.“All those who feel offended should come back to the party. We have forgiven all those who perceived they had done us one thing or the other. I am not angry. We have put it behind us and LP is one big family.”Continuing, the LP chair expressed concerns that the Nigerian people are undergoing serious hardship, which he said cannot be solely blamed on the leadership.Abure also drummed support for an effective electoral reform to resolve the recurring challenges associated with electing good leaders in the country.“Our country today is at a crossroads. It is a time for all of us to do a sober reflection. The problem is not just down to leadership. It also involves the followership.“We need our mindset and philosophy for the Labour Party to drive a change. Electoral reform is a programme we must pursue to have leaders with dignity and integrity and drive developments in the country.”