Labour Party Denies Sack of Chairman

•  Says Omo-Agege behind fake faction

Onuebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The leadership of the Labour Party has dismissed the purported suspension of its National Chairman, Abdulsallam Abdulkadir, describing those behind it as strangers and miscreants.
The party said none of its national officers or national executive members were part of Monday’s meeting where the chairman was allegedly removed.

Addressing a press conference yesterday at the party national secretariat, the National Publicity Secretary, Ebere Ifendu, said the leadership of the party was intact

She said the lone senator of the party, Senator Omo-Agege’s plot to join All Progressives Congress (APC) was the reason for fuelling the ‘fake faction’.

She said the alleged sack of the chairman of the party was part of grand design to achieve the sole target of creating a faction in Labour Party so as to enable those who want to defect to do so without attracting the wrath of the law.

She said the party was aware that the senator had been romancing the ruling APC, and attending its meeting in Delta State since he won his election on the platform of Labour Party, thereby causing artificial crises for him to officially decamp to APC.

Some party officials led by its national youth leader and others had taken to the street on Monday, demanding the suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam.

But reacting to the development yesterday, Ebere Ifendu, dismissed all the allegations raised against the party leaders, adding that the party remain a united one.

“You can see for yourself here, the national chairman and other national of the party are here, strangers cannot sack a constituted authority. We just heard it from the media that some miscreants came to Abuja from Delta State and they are not members of our party, they are just strangers,” citing various provisions of the party constitution.
Ifendu said: “In every constitution there is a way an officer can be sacked including the national chairman and other officers.

“Look at page 31, article 12 of Labour Party constitution clearly written that the chairman of the party may be suspended or removed from office on a vote of no confidence passed at least by two third majority at a national convention convened for such purpose. So, how can people just come to the street to make noise to say that they have removed the chairman? They don’t have the capacity to do that.”
On the issues about non-payment salaries to party workers, she dismissed it, saying that workers are all in the office doing their job. Similarly, she said the allegation that the chairman mismanaged the funds of the party had no evidence to back it up.

“If there is a situation, I think the National Working Committee (NEC) should be the first place to channel such complain and then from there it goes to the NEC before the party will start investigating.
“You do that by going to the street and start shouting that you want to remove the party chairman. If they are truly members of the party to follow the right channel to convey their grievances,” she said.