Less than 48 hours after the Labour Party’s Julius Abure-led National Executive Committee threatened to sanction Peter Obi, the LP’s 2023 presidential candidate, and Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, during their meeting on Wednesday, the two parties’ camps assured PUNCH Online that the summit would proceed as scheduled.
The Acting Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, and Obi’s media aide, Umar Ibrahim, disclosed this in two separate phone chats.
The clarifications come in the wake of speculations that Obi and Otti had chickened out following Abure’s threat of sanction.
“Who are those speculating about the nonsense? This is the real theatre of the absurd. If someone were acting this out as a Nollywood script, everyone would say this scriptwriter is a foolish and demented scriptwriter. Nigerians can innovate the good, the bad, and the ugly,” Ndubuaku kicked.
The union leader, however, confirmed that he would be attending the event.
Ibrahim also dispelled the insinuation, saying all the invited stakeholders are ready to storm the venue today. He said, “It is not true. There is nothing like that. If it were postponed, I would have issued you and other media persons an official statement on that.”
When asked about the threat of sanctions on his principal and the governor, the spokesman declined to comment.
PUNCH Online earlier reported that the Abure-led NEC sacked LP Caucus Leader in the House of Representatives, Afam Ogene, from his position over his alleged involvement in anti-party activities.
The NEC also vowed to direct the disciplinary committee to sanction Obi and Otti if they go ahead with their planned stakeholders’ engagement on Wednesday and other activities that may undermine the party.
The development was announced in the communique read to journalists by the Labour Party’s National Secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk, at the end of an NEC meeting held at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja.
Earlier, both Abure and Obi had simultaneously called for separate meetings of the National Executive Committee to discuss the future of the party following Friday’s judgement by the Supreme Court.
While Abure’s NEC was held at the national headquarters on Monday, Obi and Governor Alex Otti moved their stakeholders’ summit to Wednesday to a yet-to-be-named venue.
The feuding parties made the summons in separate, terse statements made available to PUNCH Online.
When contacted for reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, insisted
that the NEC, which is the highest organ in the party, has made its position known.
“However, we are watching the development and will respond at the right time,” Obiora said.
