Onyekachi Eze 
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) constituted National Transition Committee (NTC) set up to organise all-inclusive Labour Party(LP) national convention, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of constituting obstacle in the resolution of the party’s leadership crisis.
Chairman of the Labour Party National Transition Committee (LPNTC) on Media & Publicity, Comrade Tony Akeni Le Moin, in an exclusive interview with Sunday Telegraph, said the electoral body was encouraging the embattled National Chairman, Mr. Julius Abure, to remain in office, even after his tenure has expired.
NLC, which is laying claim to the ownership of Labour Party, said there was no adequate consultation before the Nnewi national convention, which returned Abure to office, and therefore, added that based on consent judgment meditated by INEC in 2022, Abure’s tenure has expired.
Akeni told Sunday Telegraph that the commission admitted to LPNTC in private that Abure’s tenure elapsed since June 9, this year.
“INEC, led by its Chairman, Prof. Mamhood Yakubu, had shown courage and good conscience at different stages of the party’s leadership crises in the past.
“But ironically, the same INEC, if truth must be told, is now also our last huddle,” he said.
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), had in a letter dated July 4, told the electoral body that any further recognition of Abure as Labour Party National Chairman would amount to violation of a judgement of the Federal High Court, which he said, the commission brokered on June 27, 2022.
According to Akeni, INEC boycotted the Nnewi national convention, “in obedience to the law and an extant court judgement,” adding that, “Prof. Yakubu’s board and some of his sincere commissioners have openly and consistently informed Abure and his expired council in clear unmistakable terms that his time in office as National Chairman of Labour Party has ended.”
He added that what the commission has not yet done is to have, “the courage to openly and unequivocally declare that the National Transition Committee set up by the Political Commission of the NLC is, as an offshoot of the Justice Kolawole consent judgement of March 20, 2018, the lawful authority of the Labour Party pending when the NTC midwifed transparent, expansive and all inclusive congresses and national convention, according to the terms of the consent judgement; a judgement to which INEC is an institutional witness.”
The delay, he argued, “is stealing time, pace and progress from NTC,” and has emboldened Abure to begin arrangement for congress arrangements in some states, which he described as illegal.
Akeni threatened that the NTC may explore legal option, if INEC failed to do the right thing, and disclosed that the committee had already filed suits before the ECOWAS Court and the African Union Commission on Human Rights, and has as well petitioned the diplomatic community for visa ban against Abure and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC).
But an INEC source had earlier told Sunday Telegraph that the commission always adopts a policy of noninterference in leadership of any political party.
“INEC is aware that there is big crisis in Labour Party but the Chairman has always maintained that the commission should not take sides.
“What we do is to encourage them to resolve their differences. As a matter of fact, we have Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism, which is ready to assist parties resolve their differences amicably.
“It is not in the interest of INEC or Nigerians that there should be crisis in opposition parties. We want opposition parties to be strong, so that they can play opposition role to the ruling party, which is good for democracy,” the source stated.
