Obi’s Presidential Aspiration Suffers A Setback
The presidential ambition of Mr Peter Obi who dumped PDP and defected to Labour Party yesterday, May 27 has suffered a serious setback as the faction led by Comr Calistus Okafor said, Mr Obi identified with the wrong faction of the party.
Investigation by Bellnews reveals that Obi who registered yesterday with the faction led by Julius Abure may have been deceived to defect to Labour party without being informed that the party leadership has been a subject of litigation since 2018.
According to a source who spoke to Bellnews, Comr. Calistus Okafor is the authentic National Chairman of the Labour party.
He was the deputy national chairman of the party to the late National chairman, Abdulkadir Abdusalam.
It was gathered that when Abdulkadir Abdusalam, died in year 2020, Mr Julius Abure who was the then acting National secretary, announced himself as the national chairman without recourse to the provisions of the party’s constitution which stated that the deputy national chairman shall act and or replace the chairman in the course of death or resignation.
The action of Abure in connivance with some members of the party led to the leadership crisis.
Calistus Okafor therefore went to court to get a pronouncement to force Abure out and the case has been pending.
BELLNEWS gathered that the matter will come up next week at the federal high court.
Another source told BELLNEWS that there was no way an acting national secretary will forcefully takeover the party and replace the late national chairman against the provisions of the constitution of the party.
Apart from the leadership crisis between Calistus Okafor and Julius Abure, BELLNEWS gathered that the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC & Trade Union Congress, TUC are also in court agaisnt the party.
It was the NLC and TUC that registered the Labour party in 2006. About two weeks ago, the NLC and TUC in a statement published on Punch newspaper on May 4, 2022 said the Labour Party has been taken back from politicians who hitherto, hijacked it from the union.
The statement added that NLC & TUC had established a political commission in the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory to administer the affairs of the party and ensure that members participate in the 2023 general elections.
Speaking to the Punch correspondent the chairman of the commission, Dr Ayo Olorunfemi, stated that both the TUC and NLC are now in charge of the Labour party adding that measures had been put in place to ensure that the party would not be hijacked again.
It was this crisis and the court order obtained by Femi Falana, SAN who is the lawyer of NLC that forced Chief Olusegun Mimiko out of the Labour party in 2019 when he wanted to use the platform to achieve his presidential ambition.
He later joined Zenith labour party where he contested for the 2019 presidential election.
The crisis is still there and unfortunately, those who took Obi to Labour party may not have informed him properly.
BELLNEWS could not reach to Mr Obi to know how he wants to resolve this lingering leadership crisis in Labour party or if he would seek ticket in another party to actualize his presidential ambition in 2023.