Why Gov Otti Wants to Highjack The Labour Party Structure Through Unconstitutional Means–Dr.Ifeanyi Anslem Okeke.

Going to INEC to solve our problems is like inviting the armed robber who shot you to remove the bullet. The Nnewi Convention was held, and INEC was informed that they didn’t come because the Nigeria Labour Congress and Transition Committee, made up of Labour Party support groups and former candidates of the party, were insisting that they would picket the INEC office.

The constitution and the Electoral Laws only require the Party to notify INEC; in the case of a convention, INEC attendance is not mandatory. Because how a party chooses to do its convention is the business of the Party.

INEC can’t determine the leadership of a political party. The cross-appeal that was struck out by the Supreme Court was because of the issue of Jurisdiction. The Supreme Court said that only political parties could determine their leadership. This means that Court rulings don’t determine who the leaders of a political party are.

The Nenadi’s committee appeal has merit because it helped the Supreme Court in affirming that nobody, no court, not even the Supreme Court or INEC, can determine the leadership of the Labour Party.

The implications of striking out the suits of both Abure and Nenadi’s committee means that the party returns to the status quo before its leadership was challenged both by INEC and Nenadi’s committee.
The Nnewi Convention was part Sponsored by H. E Peter Obi and H. E Alex Chioma Otti, who Chaired the occasion represented by his Deputy, Commissioners, and all elected members of the Labour Party in Abia.

Gov Otti’s problems with the Convention started when Hon.CeeKay Igara was Elected the southeast zonal Chairman. Hon. CeeKay Igara was the Abia state Labour Party Chairman and a placeholder for the governorship ticket when Alex Otti, who had lost all his money fighting in previous Governorship elections, came and was given the ticket on liberal terms.

The least he would do was to appreciate the people who worked for him, but he started the hijack of the Labour Party from his state by removing the Abia party chairman, who gave him a ticket and replaced him with his own brother.

Going to INEC to tell us who our chairman is, was what started the entire crisis. The existing structure of the Labour Party before the eruption of hostility was that on 27/3/2024, a National Convention was held, where Abure was elected for another four-year term as the National Chairman of our great party.

The FCT high court on 18/7/2024 declared that the Nnewi Convention was conducted according to the Labour Party constitution, and it is valid. This judgment has not been appealed.

INEC supervised agreement that was there before Peter Obi and Alex Chioma Otti joined the Labour Party is not superior to the Labour Party constitution. That Agreement violated the Constitution.

The Supreme Court said that the party should return to the status quo before the beginning of hostility. And the Nnewi Convention is the status quo.

I insist that neither INEC nor the courts can determine our chairman; we, the members of the Labour Party, insist that the results of the Nnewi Convention should be respected by all parties.

Peter Obi and Alex Chioma Otti, who are those who were part of those that produced the two leaders, should be open to negotiation to move the party forward.

The party left some positions vacant in the Nnewi Convention because of the day after the Supreme Court judgment.