18th April, 2023
By Joan Nwagwu
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it will resist any attempt from any quota to sabotage the Labour Party (LP) in the country.
Mr Joe Ajaero, NLC President, stated this while addressing newsmen during a solidarity visit to the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, had ordered Mr Julius Abure, to stop parading himself as the National Chairman of the party.
Also, the court ordered that the party’s National Vice Chairman, Mr Lamido Apapa, should take over the party in an acting capacity.
However, in a twist to the event, a High Court in Benin, Edo, gave an order, restraining anybody or any group from removing the embattled party chairman from office.
Ajaero said “Today, we say enough is enough! Never again will any human being enter here, under any guise, under any order.
“Even if we lose our leadership, we have to meet as trustees of this LP to decide the next line of action.
“For anybody to illegally declare himself either as chairman, secretary or whatever, we urge all workers in the country to arrest such impostors.
“We have come to take our party. As the fastest-growing party, you can see that envy and jealousy are creeping in.
“For anybody, or group of people, to think that they will sabotage or derail our ideological movement, we will resist any attempt to sabotage the party with everything within our powers,” he said.
However, he noted that the LP was a child of circumstances and the party was formed when all confidence was lost in the existing political parties.
He stressed that “this is our party. Nobody can come from the blues and declare himself as the chairman or secretary of our party without our consent. It is not done”.
Responding, Mr Julius Abure, the suspended party national chairman, said that he was not opposed to peace in the party.
Abure said that no amount of intimidation or deceit would stop him from pursuing and reclaiming the party’s mandate, which was given to them at the presidential elections.
“I want to state here clearly that I remain committed to the struggle for a new Nigeria. I want to say that no man can stop an idea whose time has come.
“The time has come for Nigerians to take back their country. A new Nigeria I believe is possible and no amount of harassment, or intimidation will slow us down or make us lose track.
“No amount of falsehoods or falsified stories will derail us from our pursuit. We refuse to be distracted. We will continue to pursue the course of reclaiming our mandate in the court.
“We will remain in court till that mandate is recovered. We will not rest on our oars until we reposition Nigeria for greatness,” he said.
Abure commended the NLC leadership for the solidarity visit.
NAN