THERE is renewed crisis in the Labour Party (LP), with the National Executive Committee of the party describing as unconstitutional an expanded stakeholders meeting convened by Governor Alex Otti of Abia last week where former Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman was announced as chairman of the caretaker committee of the party. Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party, Dr Ayo Olorunfemi, speaks with OSARETIN OSADEBAMWEN on the crisis.
HOW will you describe the Labour Party stakeholders meeting in Anambra, which your party said is not recognized, as it was not convened by any organ of the party?
The Anambra meeting is just a drama, or, at best, I can describe it as a mock exam. I say this because the word stakeholder cannot be found in the constitution of the party; also, you cannot find the word, ‘leader.’ What you will find in the constitution are organs – organs of the party and the offices of the respective organs of the party that are responsible for one or two actions legally recognized by the party, I mean, for one activity or the other. And when you look at that constitution very clearly, there is no place where the governor of the Abia state is empowered to call or summon meetings. No governor of the party, even in his own ward, can call meetings or decide over the meeting of the ward. The power to do so lies on the chairman of the party at his ward level. So, what they have done is an exercise in futility. It would have been more appreciated if they had recommended ways, solutions to the problem bedeviling the party, that would have been acceptable. But what they did was to create more problems, and claiming they are trying to solve problems. If they are true leaders of the party, if they are truly a set of people who can be trusted with Nigeria, how can they just take a decision that vilifies the other party to the conflict, without stating the offence that the person has committed? You then went ahead telling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the tenure of the other party has expired. If the tenure has expired, we did a convention, the convention report was submitted to INEC, for three months, INEC did say the convention did not follow the laid down rules and regulations and nullify it. You are then putting pressure on INEC, through some other means, to declare that our tenure has expired. Do you want that to happen on the basis of a verbal instruction to INEC? It is a shame. Whoever had called that meeting and those who attended the meeting are not genuine.
You mean the decision to announce another leader is adding to the problem of the party?
Of course. Yes. That is an issue. It shows clearly the people behind the crisis in the party ab-initio.
Why does it seem your party keeps having a leadership problem?
The party ordinarily does not have a leadership problem. It is just that some people who are interested in grabbing or taking the soul of the party are bent at doing so without following the law. Now, the reason is not that farfetched. The highest decision making organ of the party is the national convention followed by National Executive Council (NEC). Before anything can change, before any decision can be taken, the NEC must sit. Assuming without conceding that the tenure of Abure or National Working Committee (NWC) has elapsed, it is not in the duty of Governor Alex Otti to summon a meeting. The chairman, the NWC, may be coerced or forced to call a NEC meeting. Even if the tenure of the NWC elapses, the court can force NWC to call a meeting because by virtue of the constitution, it should be a so-called expired person that must call the meeting according to the constitution, not Alex Otti.
Do you not fear that this crisis is leading to a point where some elected politicians would possibly jump ship due to confusion in the leadership of the party?
That is exactly what they are planning to do; we are not forcing them to stay. They have their own plan. If they want to go to PDP, they can go to PDP if they like. We were here when they came and we provided shelter to them. But going forward, we believe that Nigerians are looking forward to the Labour Party. And we are going to bring somebody who is not in any way known in the political circle but has the integrity that will sync with the Nigerian public to run the next election. I am assuring you, we are working on that. Some of us are working on that. That person could be trade unionist. That person could be human rights activist. With the way Nigeria is going, they should wait for us. We are coming because we are going to bring somebody who is not known to the kind of politics that is going on in Nigeria, who is desirous of change that is required in Nigeria, who is not a hypocrite, who does not play to the gallery, like some of these people who have been playing to the gallery and deceiving Nigerians.
Will there not be any penalty for people who hold elective office of the party and then move to another platform?
It’s not all of them that will do. Those who will go, will. Those who will remain, will. It’s better for them to leave us than to destroy our ideology. That is why they are doing everything to cause crisis in the party. That is why they are doing everything to cause this crisis in the party.
Are there no stipulated sanctions, according to your party’s constitution?
Well, the only sanction in this case is to suspend them for violating the constitution of the party.
Are those who gathered in Umuahia likely to face suspension?
Those who gathered at Umuahia are not executives. They are not holding any position in the party hierarchy. From the unit level to national level, none of them holds position in the party. We have a structure intact up to unit level. You cannot go to any polling unit in Nigeria without the Labour Party adequately represented. At least you will see five people who are leaders of the Labour Party holding position at the unit level, let alone the ward level. None of these people were at that meeting. Those who attended were former government candidates, former senatorial candidates, three House of Representatives members attended. Out of 37, three attended. The chief host and the chief planner, Senator Victor Umeh, was there, and his assistant, who also midwived all of these, ran away, stayed in London and were supervising them. Unfortunately, the likes of Peter Obi, who should have been wiser, fell into their plot.
So, is the party going to take any action for them wanting to cause crisis in the party?
They don’t need to cause crisis in the party; if they want to go, let them go.
We seem to be seeing parallel structures; doesn’t this constitute security issue at the party secretariats across the country?
No. If they breach the security of the national secretariat of the party, we, as the legal body, will rely on the state legal security to protect the property of Nigerians in the Labour Party secretariat. As far as we are concerned, they are an illegal group. And if they come to any secretariat, whatever happens, they should blame Alex Otti and Peter Obi. If they cannot obey rules, it shows you the type of leader they are; it shows you that they are so weak. Even if I control the entire structure of the party, and you claim to be a leader, will you find a way of getting those people to support you? Let them go and use force. They have done their worst now by declaring a caretaker committee that is not known to law and our constitution. So if that caretaker committee wants to create problems, we will create more problems for them. I urge party faithful and members, who are driven by the ideology of the Labour Party, to remain calm and be watchful.
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