Obi Free to Leave Labour Party, Says NLC

The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed not to rest until it unseat Julius Abure as national chairman of the Labour Party.

Confirming this in an interview, the NLC spokesman, Benson Upah, said that despite the ‘illegal’ national convention that returned Abure to office, the union would never confer legitimacy or give recognition to his leadership.

The development is coming at a time when a group of retired workers under the aegis of Lagos Assembly of Labour Veterans and Trade Unionists also called for the resignation of the embattled national chairman of the party and the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, over their contentious leadership struggle.

The party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, also seems to be at loggerheads with the leadership of the LP over the manner it conducted the convention in Nnewi, Anambra State, despite his plea for wider consultation.

The former Anambra governor had expressed his frustrations at an X (formerly Twitter) Space session organized by Parallel Facts last Friday night.

While explaining his absence at the national convention that got Julius Abure re-elected as the party’s national chairman, Obi told his audience that he did not attend the event because the party’s leadership failed to heed his appeal for wider consultation with relevant stakeholders before the exercise.

The speech has since set tongues wagging and further fuelled earlier speculations that the LP presidential candidate may have started shopping for a new platform despite being guaranteed the 2027 ticket at the convention.

Upah however said the issue of whether Obi should stay or leave the party should not be debated, saying the former governor was free to determine his destiny.

According to him, the NLC cannot stand in the way of the presidential candidate should he decide to defect to another political platform.

While describing him as an asset, the spokesman reiterated that the congress would not stand in his way if he chose to leave.