Labour Party Insists Nnewi Convention Legitimate, INEC Monitoring Not Mandatory

The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Obiora Ifoh, has said that it is not compulsory for INEC to monitor political parties’ conventions, insisting that the LP’s Nnewi Convention on March 27, 2024, remains legitimate and legal.

It would be recalled that the Nnewi Convention in Anambra State led to the re-emergence of Julius Abure as the national chairman of the party.

But in a letter dated July 18, signed by INEC’s acting secretary, Haliru Aminu, the commission, in response to a request to make available a Certified True Copy (CTC) of both its report on the said convention and the LP’s constitution, said it never monitored the exercise.

Based on the letter, a former National Treasurer of the party, Mrs. Oluchi Oparah, demanded the immediate resignation of Abure.

Mrs. Oparah, at a media conference attended by some party stalwarts on Sunday in Abuja, said that Abure’s position was now vacant based on INEC’s letter, hence that he should honourably resign.

Reacting to the call and INEC’s letter, the party’s spokesman, Ifoh, said in a statement on Sunday that what was paramount was that the party met the requirements of informing INEC about the conduct of the convention within the legally stipulated time frame of 21 days.

He further said, “Therefore, it was not mandatory that INEC must be present during the internal party exercise. So, INEC’s inability to monitor the convention did not in any way invalidate the internal party activity. INEC has also continued to respect the laws of the land despite pressure from certain quarters to compromise its civic responsibility.

“At no time did INEC say it had rejected the outcome of the convention of the Labour Party. We have since moved on from the very successful convention, and activities in the party have frenzied with a huge membership drive and other political events.”