Pandemonium erupted at the Labour Party’s (LP) secretariat in the Edo State chapter as suspected thugs loyal to the embattled National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, attacked protesters believed to be party supporters demanding Abure’s removal.
Naija News learnt that trouble began when the anti-Abure protesters stormed the party headquarters in several vehicles, holding placards and chanting solidarity songs.
No sooner than some of the protesters stepped out of one of the vehicles, the suspected thugs swooped on the vehicles with sticks and other objects, forcing the drivers to zoom off.
It took the effort of armed policemen and operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) to intervene when the thugs started throwing stones into the nearby Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in pursuit of reporters who were covering the fracas.
According to Vanguard, the security officials’ intervention prevented the situation from further escalation and a police vehicle is currently stationed between the warring factions.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has declared the Edo State chapter’s suspension of its National Chairman, Julius Abure, is “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”
Naija News reports that the clarification comes amid internal disputes within the party that reached a boiling point with Abure’s suspension by his local ward in Esan North-East Local Government, Edo State.
The controversy traces back to a letter dated May 14, 2024, followed by a ratification on May 15, 2024, in which Abure was suspended with immediate effect for alleged highhandedness and anti-party activities.
These decisions were reportedly endorsed by the state executive committee, led by Kelly Ogbaloi, during a meeting on Friday night in Benin.
Addressing the controversy in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, stated that the Edo State chapter acted without proper authority.
According to Ifoh, the party’s constitution stipulates in Article 17 Subsection 1 of the 2019 revision that only a national convention convened specifically for this purpose and achieving a two-thirds majority can suspend or remove the national chairman.