The National chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure has been suspended by the Executive Council members in Ward 3, Arue in Esan North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
Abure was suspended Abure over alleged forgery and anti-party activities by the ward leadership.
In a press conference on Friday, the Ward Chairman, Martins Osigbemhe, alleged that Abure connived with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to truncate the chances of the party in the February 25 presidential poll.
Osigbemhe stressed that Abure was suspended by the party over pending the outcome of several petitions and cases against him in courts.
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He said;
“We, the Labour Party Ward Executive Council in Ward 03-Arue, in Esan North East Local Government Area O4 of Edo State (12), do hereby suspend Barr Abure Julius Odianosen indefinitely as the National Chairman of the Labour.”
Abure’s suspension illegal – NWC
Meanwhile, the National Working Committee of the Labour Party has described the suspension of its National Chairman as illegal.
In a follow up statement on Friday by its National Secretary, Mallam Farouk Umar, the LP said the reported suspension is of no consequence, adding that only a national convention can make that decision.
Umar further described the self-acclaimed leaders of the ward as impostors who lacked the powers to suspend Abure.
The statement reads:
“The attention of the Leadership of the Labour Party was called to the Press Conference held today Friday, 31st March 2023 by some unknown faces assembled in one room in Abuja wherein they pronounced a suspension on our National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure.
“They also made some spurious allegations against him which are untrue and concocted by the sponsors of the Press Conference. We however deemed it fit to make some responses. The Young men we saw in that visuals are apparently not anybody from Labour Party in Edo state as claimed.
“The executives of the party in the state, Local Government and my ward are well known to the party. None of them was at the press conference.
“A party from the blues competing with the top two political parties and in the process, winning eight Senate and 34 House of Representatives as well as numerous House of Assembly seats. We also won a governorship seat while we are in court to retrieve other mandates including the presidency.”
“We make bold to say that they are people assembled and rented from some Abuja slums and paid to read a prepared speech given to them.
“Again, our Party Constitution is clear on who can suspend and who cannot suspend the National Chairman. They should go and read the party constitution. Only the National Convention can suspend the National Chairman of the Labour Party. It also must be through such a convention called for the purpose of the suspension of the National Chairman.
“We think that the sudden suspension was an afterthought of some opposition parties purely to distract the leadership of the Labour Party at this time. There is no reasonable party member now who will be thinking of such a thing when we are pursuing our presidential mandate in the court and all other mandates including the governorship, Senate and House of Representatives that were brazenly stolen.
“Who will be contemplating the suspension of any national party official now? It is on record that for the first time in the party’s history, the Abure-led leadership has succeeded in changing the country’s political narratives.”