- While admitting that he is still a member of the LP, he stated that he is only against the LP leadership under Abure.
A chieftain of the Labour Party, LP, Kenneth Okonkwo, says his membership of the party is contingent on certain conditions that hinged on the leadership of the party.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Friday, Okonkwo said he is not a member of the party under Julius Abure’s leadership.
“As it is now, I have already left if Abure is the Chairman,” he said.
Recall that the Nollywood actor-turned-politician had in July 2024 announced his departure from LP and also severed ties with the former presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi.
However, during the programme, Okonkwo, a former spokesman for the Labour Party’s presidential campaign council, clarified his resignation, insisting that he is still a member of the LP.
While admitting that he is still a member of the LP, he stated that he is only against the LP leadership under Abure.
“I am a member of the Labour Party, but not under Julius Abure. If Abure manages to wangle himself in and becomes the National Chairman, it is automatic,” he stated.
The Labour Party has been grappling with crisis, as both the party’s Caretaker Committee, led by Esther Nenadi Usman, and Abure have been laying claim to the party’s structure at the National level.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had last hear voided Abure’s leadership, stating that the national convention violated the Constitution and Electoral Act.
The leadership quandary let to the appointment of Usman, a former senator representing Kaduna South, as the chair of its 29-member caretaker committee on 4 September 2024, after Abia State Governor Alex Otti convened a stakeholders’ meeting of the party in Umuahia.
The party’s presidential candidate in 2023, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, were among the top party members who attended the meeting.
In January, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party.
In a judgment delivered on 17 January by Hamma Barka, the court ruled that its earlier decision in November 2024, recognising Abure as the party’s chairman, remains valid and has not been overturned by any court.
The ruling came in response to two separate appeals filed by Nenadi Usman, the party’s caretaker committee, and INEC
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