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The Labour Party State Chairmen Forum has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to trash into the bin a memo purportedly written by the Caretaker Committee of the party seeking to hold a fresh Congress of the party as from March 26, 2026 as the memo has not complied with the constitution of the party and other laws of the land.
In a statement issued on Monday by the Party’s National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh, who maintained that the forum comprising of all the state chairmen of the party elected in Congresses carried out on December 6, 2025 also called on the electoral commission to sanction Senator Nenadi Usman and her group.
The statement also recalled that INEC had refused Senator Nenadi’s request to hold congresses while also warning that the Caretaker Committee cannot act on behalf of the Party.
Ifoh also stated that the party had earlier told Nigerians that Senator Nenadi was never a member of the party. Her ignorance of the party constitution and the naivety so far displayed in all her correspondences to INEC offer a justification.
According to ifoh, it is only NEC who is empowered by the party constitution to fix date, time and make rules for the conduct of congresses.
Secondly, State, Local Government and Ward executives have four years tenure. Notice for another congresses cannot be valid under the Labour Party Constitution when the tenure of those elected in December 2025 still subsists. This was the kernel of INEC letter to her dated 16th of February 2025.
The state chairmen forum has therefore urged INEC to consider designating an officer from the commission to run Labour Party.
It is therefore on this note that we insist that the attempt by Senator Usman to initiate a new memo to INEC written on March 3rd, notifying the commission of its intention to hold a fresh congress was an action dead on arrival.
This is because INEC in their letter dated 16th of February has denied knowledge of any NEC by the Caretaker Committee convened for the sake of dissolution or electing new executive.
It is not only unlawful but also an aberration that a caretaker committee will seek to summarily dismiss a duly elected executives of a political party and in turn unilaterally appoint a caretaker committee in their stead.
Nigeria is not a lawless nation. In Labour Party constitution, tenure of elected officers is sacrosanct and guaranteed and there is no provision granting a caretaker committee the powers to dissolve elected party structure across the federation.
Be that as it may, It is also on record that the Labour Party leadership has appealed the Federal High Court procured judgement.
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