From Sola Ojo, Abuja
The Labour Party is currently embroiled in a leadership tussle, with two factions vying for control – Julius Abure and Lamidi Apapa, over tenure expiration. This, led to the emergence of Senator Nenadi Usman as acting chairman of the party. The development snowballed into court issues, which turned out in favour of Abure. The matter is now at the Supreme Court. But Labour Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, believes that, his party, as a social idealistic party, would come together at the end of the day to move the party forward.
The Appeal Court has ruled in favour of Abure’s led leadership of your party, the Labour Party; what was the environment like at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja?
We are happy that the judgement came. But we are not celebrating because we see it as a family affair. This is an internal issue that is not supposed to go to the court in the first instance. All we needed to do is sit and discuss as a family, discuss and agree on any issue, put it behind us and move forward because we are in contention with other political parties. So, this is the right time for the party to come together, build synergy and move beyond where we are. In 2023, we recorded massive successes across the country. This crisis will only jeopardise that effort if not carefully managed. This is why I said we are not celebrating. The only time we will celebrate is when the house has come together, and everybody is on the same page, mapping out a strategy on how to confront future elections up to 2027. We are happy the Appeal Court gave judgement but we are not celebrating.
Anyhow you want to look at it, the faction that went to court to test Abure’s stand may be viewed with contempt within the party. Don’t you think that poses a serious threat to the Labour Party’s survival ahead of the 2027 round of elections?
When there are dissenting voices in your house, there is no way you can make appreciable progress. But, like I said, there was nothing like a leadership crisis in the Labour Party.
Some people come together to begin to lay claims, and then those claims translate into crisis. What we did was to test those claims in the court and they were all flat. That is why, till this moment, the national leadership of the party, ably led by Abure, has been in place, recognised by all major stakeholders in democracy, and that is where we are.
What about the impact on the party?
Yes, as regards the impact that this development may have on our party, certainly it did last year because most of the programmes we mapped out for the party were somehow not followed the way we ought to follow them. This is because every day we were in one court or the other. I believe those things are now in the past. We have decided to move on after the Appeal Court judgment, which authenticated Abure’s leadership. We have since announced our programmes.
Can you share some of the programmes with us?
I can tell you that we started our drive for new membership and validation, where thousands have already been validated online. This showed that people see the Labour Party as a party for today because the other two so-called major political parties have not shown leadership. They have failed to show serious Nigerians why they should join their parties. They also understand that if the Labour Party didn’t do very well in the last election, there wouldn’t be all these stone throwing. It is because people have seen the potential of our party, where we were in 2023, and where we want to be in 2027. Some of these crises are orchestrated to diminish our strengths. Some members of the party easily fall prey to those orchestrations due to their low understanding of what the party stands for.
Where are these orchestrations coming from when the fighting parties are within your party?
From our political enemies of course. Their presence in the party structure has made this crisis run for more than a year now. Like I said, we have been given a clean bill of health. Our programmes are running.
You have some lawmakers elected under your party; how are they fairing, and what programmes do you have for them to ensure proper representation?
Yes, we have another committee that is looking into constitutional issues. There are areas in the constitution of Nigeria that need to be amended. The committee is working to fix that. We have other committees. So, at the appropriate time, we are going to introduce that on the floor of the National Assembly, demanding the restructuring of one place or the other. Internally, we are also educating some of our members in the National Assembly.
This is important because several of them joined the Labour Party from other different parties, and they are yet to know how our party works. They are yet to understand what the Labour Party stands for. Most of them have not even gone through the constitution of the party. So, we are trying to reach out to them to understand that the Labour Party is not like the PDP or APC. We have our social ethics and code of conduct, quite different from what these other parties are doing. The moment the lawmakers who are elected on the platform of Labour Party understand that, the more excellent they will perform in the assembly.
How are their performances so far?
If you can remember, when they came to the house, they joined the political bandwagons they met on the ground, doing what other parties were doing because they were yet to understand what the party stood for. However, they have been reminded of what the party stands for. Those who are following the political landscape in the National Assembly must have observed that what these Labour Party lawmakers are coming up with is different. Most of them are doing very well now, challenging the status quo and coming up with fantastic bills that support the masses. I believe that will resonate better before the next election, and people will naturally work for the Labour Party’s success.
So far, what has been the body language of top party members like Peter Obi, Alex Otti and others, who were on opposed to the Abure’s leadership?
We have our internal mechanism for resolution of crisis and that body is working. I can tell you the feelers we are getting are encouraging. In no time, everyone will return to the table and work with the party.
What is the strength of the Labour Party in northern Nigeria after the 2023 General elections, considering the population of voters, including young persons in states like Kano, Kaduna and others?
Don’t forget that the Labour Party won two seats in the green chamber of the National Assembly in Kaduna State in 2023. Beyond Kaduna State, we have other 18 states in the North. So, let us do a simple political calculation. Remove the six states in the North Central, we have about 13 other states from the North East and North West. With the statistics that we have from the current registration exercise, I can tell you the number we are recording from these states are so astonished that we are like what is happening. People are eager to see changes. People are eager to see new faces with new social change in government. People are tired of these faces that are being replicated every now and then and which they see all the time. They want people with ideas on how to turn around the economy that will make their lives worth living not just existing as we have currently.
For example, hunger does not know the boundary whether you are a president or a senator. What hunger knows is the fellow that softens or cures it. If you go to market and see a uniform price across the country. What Nigerians are interested in is to see the person who will change these unpleasant narratives. Someone who can alleviate poverty in Nigeria. Someone who will bring succour to the general suffering masses. People want to see a government that will create employment that will address some of their suffering, which the employment the government has so far created has failed to achieve. They have not been able to create employment that will build wealth for the people. The situation is getting worse by the day. That is what has led to astronomical registration in the Labour Party. One of these days, we will bring it up. So, we identified some of the lapses we had in 2023, and we are blocking those lapses, knowing that in 2027, there will be a massive change in the thinking of the electorate.
