By Ikeugonna Eleke
A chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Callistus Uju Okafor, has identified the national chairman of the party, Barr Julius Abure, and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, as the causes of the crisis in the party.
Okafor, a former Deputy National Chairman of the party under the late A.A Salaam, stated this in an interview with journalists.
He said: ‘The leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Abure faction are the cause of the crisis in our party.
‘We and some stakeholders had in the interest of peace called for a true and thorough reconciliation within the party but certain persons were not interested in peace.
‘Why would a meeting called to address these issues exclude stakeholders such as myself, Lamidi Apapa and groups such as the Trade Union Congress (TUC)? How would such meeting translate to a lasting peace and progress of the party in the future?
‘I and my supporters have done everything to ensure that we put the interests of the Labour Party before any personal interests and that is why I have insisted that we are ready to make any sacrifice for the party, a party some of us have invested our resources and our time.
‘Sadly, our gestures have not been reciprocated by certain forces who have decided to play the politics of exclusion. For example, instead of calling for such meetings, where everyone will air their grievances and perhaps get some of us to sheathe our swords and embrace a lasting peace, you see these people who are supposed to do the right thing exclude people like us.
‘Then, you look at the likes of Abure who tricked his way to make himself National Chairman, go on to organise a fake convention deviating totally from the rulings of the court which called for an enlarged convention. Thankfully, INEC didn’t observe the sham they called convention,’ Okafor said.
