- Tanko said the recently concluded national convention of the party which returned Julius Abure as the national chairman was not all-inclusive as many key stakeholders were not involved.
National chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, didn’t heed the party’s presidential candidate in the last election, Peter Obi, advice on how the party’s convention should be conducted, Yinusa Tanko has has said.
Tanko, the chief spokesperson for the Obi-Datti campaign organisation, disclosed that Abure’s decision to go against Obi’s advice of doing the right thing is what plunged the party into its current crisis.
Tanko said the recently concluded national convention of the party which returned Julius Abure as the national chairman was not all-inclusive as many key stakeholders were not involved.
Speaking on Monday during an interview on Channels TV, Tanko stated that the current crisis rocking the Labour Party would have been averted if the leadership had heeded the advice of Peter Obi to have an all-inclusive convention.
“His Excellency, Peter Obi, has made a concerted effort in trying to intervene at any point we have this particular issue and trying to improve,
“When the issue of the national convention came up, he (Obi) suggested to the national chairman that because we are bigger now, we need to have a wider consultation: meet with responsible and interested people such as the TUC and NLC, stakeholders, the Obidient group – young generation people who are interested in seeing Nigeria work. Meet with leaders who have different ideas that can midwife us into a greater height.
“All of these were the suggestions that he (Obi) made, and not only did he make those suggestions, he practicalised them because he met with the members of the National Assembly.
“He (Obi) met with the leadership of the party recently in Asaba trying to give them ideas on how he thinks certain things could be done and you could improve our situation but of course, you know how politics is, sometimes, people may be trying to encourage people, but they do something different.
“You can only take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water, so that’s exactly what Peter Obi has done, he has done so greatly to see if we can find a solution to some of the problems we find ourselves.”
He said while Abure has the right to contest the national chairmanship position again, but it’s only natural and proper to throw open the chairmanship position for others to contest.
Tanko noted that Abure went outside an initial agreement to have an all-inclusive national convention which ought to start from the ward, local government and state levels before the national level.
He said that the convention held in Nnewi Anambra State that returned Abure as the party’s leader was not in line with that agreement and therefore was not acceptable to everyone within the party.