A proposed ‘secret’ National Convention by the National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure and its National Working Committee(NWC) has torn the party apart with the Nigeria Labour Congress – one of the stakeholders and supporters of the former presidential candidate, Peter Obi calling for his sack.

The NLC accused Abure of running the Labour Party as a “sole administrator.”

According to the NLC, Abure in April 2023 tried to unilaterally extend his tenure in office by two years but was stopped at its instance and Obi who insisted that the right thing be done.

Supporters of Obi asked him to quit the Labour Party.

The Abure – led NWC is accused of planning to hold the national convention of the party in Umuahia, the Abia State capital on March 27 without the input of stakeholders, especially the NLC.

The planned convention was contained in a notice to the independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) on March 13.

However, in an open letter, the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission – the political wing of the NLC, described the planned convention as illegal, noting that it would not allow any form of illegality in the affairs of the party to stand.

It called for the immediate resignation of Abure as the party chairman and the constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.

The letter was signed by the Chairman and Secretary, NLC political commission, Comrades TItus Amba and Chris Uyot on Friday night in Abuja.

Abure has been having a running battle with some senior officials of the party over the management of the labour party.

Last month, the National Treasurer of the party, Oluchi Opara accused Abure of diverting N3.5 billion of funds received from the sale of nomination forms by the Labour Party and donations for the prosecution of the 2023 political campaigns.

The chairman dismissed the allegation as baseless and went ahead to suspend Opara for six months.

The NLC also knocked Abure for his extortionist tendencies by selling the nomination and expression of interest forms for Edo governorship election for N30m.

The statement reads: “The NLC Political Commission is concerned that some characters in the Labour Party leadership have failed to identify with the expectation of Nigerian workers and people that the Labour Party must be always above board. The continued refusal of the National Chairman of the Labour Party to showcase the leadership qualities epitomised in the founding ideology of the Labour Party presents him as unfit for the position he desperately wishes to cling to and we have now discovered is the reason behind all the crises in the Labour Party.

END.