The Interim National Working Committee (INWC) of the Labour Party (LP) has condemned the party’s exclusion from last Saturday’s parliamentary by-elections in 16 constituencies, describing it as a calculated attempt to deny Nigerians the opportunity of electing credible representatives.
In a statement issued on Monday, the INWC alleged that the exclusion was a conspiracy orchestrated by the “sacked Julius Abure-led NWC” in collaboration with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The exclusion is an orchestrated plot by the rejected All Progressives Congress (APC) because they know that the Labour Party on the ballot will trounce their lowly rated candidates,” the statement read.
The INWC insisted that the leadership crisis within the party was not enough grounds for INEC to bar LP candidates from contesting, stressing that the Supreme Court had already recognised Senator Esther Nenadi Usman as the authentic leader of the party.
“Julius Abure and his co-travellers have proved once more by these by-elections that, as usual, they were on yet another unabashed mission to destroy our party’s strong electoral potential on behalf of their well-known paymasters,” the committee declared.
The Labour Party described its exclusion as “a violation of the Nigerian Constitution and flagrant disobedience to the judgment of the highest court of the land,” insisting that INEC was in possession of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the ruling which affirmed Senator Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington Nwokocha as party leaders.
The INWC apologised to its candidates who had prepared to participate in the by-elections but were prevented from doing so.
“We feel your pains knowing that you prepared at much cost, suffered the rigours of campaigns, asset mobilization, logistics losses and psychological trauma, and at the last minute, were denied your constitutional rights and opportunities to contest the elections by the tripartite conspiracy of Abure’s expired council and INEC’s delayed interpretation and execution of the Supreme Court judgement of April 4, following the scripts of their common masters,” the party said.
It urged members and supporters to remain steadfast, assuring that efforts were underway to secure full recognition of the new leadership by INEC.
“To prepare for that day, our council is doing everything necessary to have INEC fully, unequivocally, and expeditiously recognize the brand new leadership of the Labour Party, ready and ship-shape for all elections here forward.
This is so that the ballot apartheid and franchise robbery that excluded LP candidates from the August 16th by-elections of our country will never recur in any manner. Never again,” the statement noted.
The INWC reaffirmed its alliance with key figures of the party, including former presidential candidate Peter Obi, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, and Governor Alex Otti, pledging to reposition LP ahead of the 2027 elections.
The party also used the opportunity to criticise the APC-led government, accusing it of misrule, insecurity, corruption, and reckless foreign borrowing.
“Our country is in dire danger on multiple fronts from the havoc of misrule, pandemic insecurity, corruption, and marathon foreign borrowings in a reckless manner primed to plunge our present and future generations into epic macro-economic suicide,” it warned.
The Labour Party called on organised labour, civil society groups, and pro-democracy movements to rally behind its push for political liberation.
“Throughout our country, the Labour Party is the only true home for all unions under the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and civil society movements for good governance.
For you and your children, it is where your labours and entitlements, in-service and out-of-service life as workers and advocates of good governance, best thrive,” the INWC said.
Concluding, the committee admitted that the party alone could not salvage the country but invited a coalition of democracy movements to form what it described as a collective “Salvation Army” for Nigeria.
“I will freely admit this. The Labour Party alone cannot liberate Nigeria.
So, today our party opens its doors and arms to all unions and democracy movements throughout our country for a save-Nigeria partnership.
I invite you to form with us a collective ‘Salvation Army’ for the rescue of our country,” it stated.
