Politics
BREAKING: Labour Party sacks Arabambi, National Publicity Secretary
The Labour Party (LP) has finally wielded the big stick with the sack of its acting National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, less than 24 hours after he took on the Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, accusing him of cheating party members over the 2023 general elections.
In a quick riposte on Friday, the party, said it reached the decision to offload the erstwhile spokesman after a meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC), which also dissolved the executives of the Ogun State chapter of the party.
A fortnight ago, Arabambi and members of the Ogun leadership, had announced the expulsion of Doyin Okupe, the Director General of the LP Presidential Campaign Council (LP-PCC), also claiming the party boss mismanaged party funds voted for its presidential campaign in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The party explained on Friday that the axe finally fell on him alongside the Ogun executives as a result of their involvement in anti-party activities, a move, which seemed to have widened the crisis in the party, coming just about two months into the February 25 presidential election.
On Thursday, Arabambi had accused Abure of obtaining money under pretence and defrauding candidates and aspirants who obtained nomination forms to contest under the party, in a petition by his lawyer to the LP leadership.
Stating that the party boss abused and used his office to corruptly enrich himself by obtaining money under false pretence from candidates, saying the alleged victims, had inundated his office with inquiries over their fate in the hand of the party chairman.
The petition read: “We write this petition against the National Chairman over the allegation of obtaining money under pretence and defrauding of candidates and aspirants who obtained nomination forms to contest under our great Party. The office of our client has been inundated with complaints and reports from candidates of the Party who claimed that they have been defrauded by the National Chairman. The complainants informed our client that they are ready to come forward and give evidence with documentary proof.
“One of the candidates, Hon. George Gabriel Chiadikaobi whose name was submitted to INEC as the Party candidate for Lagos West Senatorial District informed our client that on 22nd day of August 2022 paid the sum of N2.5m to Labour Party account number 1021575052 domiciled with UBA for nominations into Senate Lagos West through Sunday Ajayi
“Also Umeadi Emmanuel Azubike whose name was submitted to INEC as the party candidate for House of Representatives Amuwo Odolin Federal Constituency Lagos State informed our Client that on the 20th day of July, 2022 paid the sum of N3,000,000,00 and also another paid N1,000,000.00 only on the 16th day of August, 2022 to the Lagos State, Labour Party Account Number: 11224871298 domiciled with Zenith Bank. Also at various times, over N27,000,000 have been paid to Barr. Julius Abure through other members of the party including Comrade Joseph Ndirang and others that will form the witness team against him.
“Despite all the intrigues and delay that he claimed his nominations suffer, he met with the National Chairman Bar Julius Abure in Abuja who directed the National Publicity Secretary, our client to effect immediately the name of our candidates in the list of substitution submitted to INEC.
“Hon. George reported to our client that he was asked by National Chairman not to deposit the balance of N2.5m meant for the Party nomination forms into Party official Account (UBA Account) but rather to pay the money into the National Chairman’s transport business account number 0821137431, Account Name: EVER READY TRANSPORT SERVICES LTD Domiciled with Access Bank which he did.
“It was after the above payment into the National Chairman’s personal account contrary to the Party’s Constitution that he instructed the National Legal Adviser to commence a fresh action at the Federal High Court Lagos where Hon. George was listed as the candidate for Lagos West Senatorial District.
“Hon. George later informed me that to his surprise, the National Chairman wrote a letter that the matter currently ongoing in the Federal High Court, Lagos be withdrawn and discontinued which will ultimately jeopardize the listing of his name as the Lagos West Senatorial candidate.
“Other candidates of our Party whose names were submitted for the Federal House of Representatives from various Federal Constituencies in Lagos also made similar allegations and reported to me that they have paid various sums meant for the Party into the personal accounts of the National Chairman based on his instructions.
“Our Client has also paid several Millions of Naira to the National Chairman which we have the evidence of transfer. There is no doubt that the National Chairman Bar Julius Abure has abused his office and used his office to corruptly enrich himself by obtaining money under false pretence from the candidates of our Party. These complainants are ready to provide evidence of those payments when the need arises.
“This development has brought shame to the Party and is the major reason for the ongoing internal crisis currently facing the Party in Lagos State. As the National Publicity Secretary and Image maker of the Party, our client owes it to the great Party as a duty to report this allegation as it is capable of imploding the party and distracting our focus from the 2023 general election unless it is investigated and resolved immediately. We want you to use your good office to investigate this fraudulent action against Bar Julius Abure for the interest of our great Party. Our client is available to provide further details on this.”
A legal tussle is in the offing to determine the fate of the June 20 by-election to fill the vacancy in the Enugu North senatorial district at the National Assembly, following the decision of the Labour Party (LP) to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to exclude it from participating.
INEC had approved the participation of only three political parties for the exercise to fill the vacant seat left by Okey Ezea, who died last year, to the exclusion of scores of others including the LP under whose platform the former Senator won the seat in 2023.
Ken Asogwa, spokesman of the party, who gave the update on the next line of action, said LP had already approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, to challenge the decision on the ground of wrongful exclusion, saying that the party was deeply disturbed over INEC’s action, especially the reason it gave for it.
Asogwa, who conveyed the decision through a statement on Monday, wondered how its candidate would made to pay for the ineptitude of INEC itself, which failed to carry out its constitutional responsibility.
Stressing that the party complied with all statutory requirements and procedural guidelines, but was still denied access to upload the particulars of its candidate on INEC’s nomination portal, the statement, added: “Up until the close of the submission window on June 2, the party made several efforts, including formal protests and correspondences to the commission, seeking the resolution of the issue, but these efforts yielded no positive result
“The party fulfilled every legal and administrative obligation required under the Electoral Act and INEC’s extant regulations in the nomination of its candidate. Labour Party finds it difficult to understand the basis upon which it had been excluded from an election in which it had a legitimate and undeniable stake.
“It is both disturbing and deeply concerning that the head of Elections and Party Monitoring (EPM) in Enugu State reportedly justified his refusal to transmit the report of the Labour Party’s primary election on the ground that he was out of town on the day the exercise was conducted.
“This excuse is untenable and raises serious questions about the discharge of official responsibilities. Labour Party cannot be made to suffer the consequences of an official’s absence, negligence, incompetence or dereliction of duty.
“Electoral processes and the constitutional rights of political parties cannot be subjected to the convenience or personal circumstances of individual officers. If the officer was unavailable, it is incumbent upon him or INEC in Enugu to ensure that appropriate arrangements were made for the monitoring and reporting of the exercise.
“INEC should not be penalising a political party that duly complied with all statutory requirements. The Electoral Act only requires political parties to duly notify INEC of their primaries. The party complied fully with this statutory requirement. The legality and validity of the exercise cannot be vitiated by INEC’s absence, as neither the Electoral Act nor the commission’s regulation made its physical presence a mandatory condition for the conduct of a party primary election.”
Expressing confidence in Joash Amupitan, INEC Chairman to do the right thing, he however called on the commission investigate the actions taken by its staff members in Enugu and take decisive action against anyone found culpable.
His words: “Electoral institutions derive their legitimacy from public trust and every effort must be made to protect the integrity of the electoral process. It would amount to a grave injustice for Labour Party to be denied the opportunity of presenting a candidate in an election convened to fill a vacancy created by the death of one of its serving senators.
“Such an outcome would not only undermine the rights of the party and its supporters but it tends to diminish the democratic choices available to the people of Enugu North senatorial district in the coming by-election.
“As the party places its confidence in the impartiality and wisdom of the Nigerian judiciary, it urges all its members and supporters in Enugu North and across the country to remain calm while the matter is being determined by the courts.”
A conciliatory Atiku Abubakar, in magnanimity with victory, extended the olive branch to Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, the pair he defeated on Wednesday night to clinch the ticket of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for next year’s presidential election.
He appealed to both men never to abandon the party ahead of the election, scheduled for January 2027, but to close ranks to ensure victory for both party, Nigeria as a country and the people currently under the bondage of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Extending the olive branch shortly after being handed the party flag, officially declaring him as the candidate, he said: “I therefore appeal to all those who feel aggrieved to come back to our party and close ranks with the rest of us. In particular, I invite Chief Rotimi Anechi and Alhaji Muhammad Hayatu-Deen to join me in this fight to save our democracy and our country.
“As I said previously, there are no winners and no losers. Our people look up to us for leadership and I am ready to lead,” he said.
He added that he would work with other aspirants and stakeholders to build the party ahead of the general election.
“I shall work with you all to continue to build our party. I will campaign with you and if Nigeria’s leaders demand it, govern with you to build a country that works for all of us.”
The appeal is coming hours after both Amaechi, former Governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transportation and Hayatu-Deen, former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), rejected the result, even before it was announced, citing what they described as manipulation of the voting process, with Hayatu-Deen saying he would not attend the announcement of the result.
Regardless, Atiku, Nigeria’s former Vice President between 1999 and 2007, said he truly humbled and excited to lead the party into the next elections, adding that he was particularly excited by the party’s demonstration of internal democracy despite the position of naysayers.
Hear him: “I must state at this juncture that this is not the time to celebrate. No one was defeated because we are one party and we all need to recognise the fierce urgency of the moment.
“Therefore, we have to unite, as we pledged before this process, to work to pull our country and our people out of the destructive grip of a corrupt, incompetent and polarising APC government.
“I thank the primary elections Committee for organising peaceful, free, fair and transparent primaries. I thank the various leadership organs of our party, the various stakeholders, and volunteers for their hard work and dedication and all our party members and supporters for their efforts, patience and conduct during the process.
“With the primaries behind us, the real hard work is about to begin. We have to prepare to campaign hard to win the next general elections in order to begin the difficult process of rescuing our country and its long-suffering people from this government.”
“I will not be attending the announcement of the ADC Presidential Election Results today. I am concerned by reports from across the country of widespread vote rigging, some of which I myself observed, and will therefore be taking advice on my next steps.”
These were the exact words of Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, one of the presidential aspirants of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), with which he cast a slur on the ongoing presidential primaries of the party, hinging his position on reports of fraud trailing the exercise.
Hayatu-Deen, a second timer in the search for the nation’s number one job, ran against Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former Vice President and Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation.
In a statement on his assessment of the exercise which began on Monday, the renowned economist Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), used his X platform to convey his dissatisfaction with the process.
The ADC which said the collation for the exercise would take place in Abuja had urged aspirants, party leaders, delegates, and members to conduct themselves peacefully and uphold party unity.
Bolaji Abdullahi, its spokesman, who described the exercise as a defining moment for both the ADC and Nigerians seeking a credible political alternative, maintained that it remained committed to internal democracy and a transparent leadership selection process.
“The ADC remains proud to stand today as the only truly democratic party in Nigeria because it is the only political party whose choice of presidential candidate is determined through open primaries,” he said adding that the conduct of aspirants and party members during the exercise would reflect the leadership culture the ADC seeks to promote.
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