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Obi on LP crisis: We can’t destroy what we’ve built, anger must give way
Nothing short of outright exit of Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) will satisfy the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), a demand, they reemphasised on Tuesday, when its leadership, again stormed the party’s headquarters in Abuja to oust the LP boss.
Led by officials of the Labour Party National Transition Committee (LPNTC), the workers, who demanded immediate resignation of Abure, whose tenure they insisted had long elapsed, were only denied their mission of forcefully evicting the party boss by the police.
Incidentally, the storming of the party secretariat took place on a day the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) was meeting with Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the party in the February, 25, 2023 election, to find a way out of the crisis that has beset its leadership.
Obi, said to have convened the meeting, was seen on television, trying to calm the workers, who stormed the venue of the meeting, describing the situation as a family dispute, which no stone would be left unturned in an attempt to settle, before the official end of the tenure of the Abure executive at the end of the month.
He said: He said: “Let me tell you one thing, their reconciliation is all about our party and I can assure you that everyone must reconcile with each other. During our meeting before we learnt that our people were outside, I told them that my first assignment was reconciliation, my second assignment was reconciliation and my third assignment, reconciliation and I can tell you that what you witnessed earlier is a normal thing in our lives, I do the same thing.
“It is what I do every day even in our families. When we quarrel with our wives and children, we reconcile. Even today during the meeting, I made one instance which is that I have come to start the work of reconciling the family. So these people here are members of the family who we must reconcile with. We are going to sit down around a table and decide the future of our party. I am ready for a reconciliation meeting any day you choose.
“And I like what happened here today. This means we have just started the reconciliation process and what we achieved today was so much, as I told you sometimes it happens in my house and I allow it because that is the only way I know how mature my children have become.”
Abdulwahed Omar, Chairman of the committee, who led the NLC members, in trying to forcefully break into the venue before the police intervention, had vowed: “It is either we find our way forward or we make our way forward. The issue at hand is that the tenure of Abure and the National Working Committee has expired by the end of this month. And there cannot be a vacuum in leadership.
“We have tried to do it peacefully. As much as possible, if we can resolve this issue without fighting, that will be good but from what we have witnessed today, it appears certainly that it is either we find our way forward or we make our way forward. This I assure you.
“We will not tolerate lawlessness but if anybody decides to be lawless because he has the power to pay and subvert our efforts I want to assure you that we are also capable of doing whatever anybody can do we can do more. Our committee has been given the mandate by stakeholders to conduct a new and all-inclusive national convention.”
On his part, Abure, the embattled party boss, had said: “Labour Party is happy with your reconciliation project and we will give you all the support. We are not the aggressor here. We have always wanted peace because we can’t go into future elections with divided loyalty.
“We have said that we are focused on 2027 that is why we are the only party that has produced its candidate for the 2027 presidential election. We know where we are going and we have refused to be distracted. We will definitely get to our destination of giving Nigerians a better nation.”
For those eager to speculate around the sudden death of Mary Habila, a female student who reportedly died inside one of the rooms in the country home of Dave Umahi, located in Uburu, Ebonyi State, there is a message from the Minister of Works – prepare to meet me in court.
The circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of the lady said to be a physiotherapist, has been a subject of intense speculation, since the news was broken on Saturday by SaharaReporters, a foremost Nigerian online newspaper.
Umahi, who had earlier stated how he was shocked by the incident, explained that the deceased was one of the two employees of the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, who had been on secondment to the Federal Ministry of Works as physiotherapists for the past three years until, before her unfortunate passing.
On Saturday, the Minister, had warned those he referred as “tale bearers” to apply caution, to enable the police conduct unfettered investigation into the matter, said to have occurred in his palatial home on June 27.
Conveying the position of his boss, Nwaze, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity had said in a statement: “The attention of the Media Office of the Honourable Minister of Works, Senator Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has been drawn to a publication by a publication concerning the unfortunate passing of Miss Mary Habila in Uburu, Ebonyi State, alleging that the circumstances surrounding her death were shrouded in secrecy.
“The Honourable Minister received the news with profound shock and sadness and has since extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. For the avoidance of doubt, immediately the unfortunate incident occurred, appropriate emergency steps were taken. Medical personnel, including the Chief Medical Director of the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, were contacted without delay, while the Nigeria Police was promptly notified in accordance with the law.
“Following confirmation of Miss Habila’s passing, the Honourable Minister personally received her parents, conveyed his sincere condolences, and advised that an autopsy be conducted to scientifically establish the exact cause of death. At the time, however, the family declined the recommendation.
“It is important to clarify that Miss Mary Habila and Miss Anita Baski are employees of the David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, who had been on secondment to the Federal Ministry of Works as physiotherapists for the past three years until the unfortunate passing of Miss Habila.
“Following the recent developments and in the interest of ensuring that the truth is established beyond doubt, the Honourable Minister has again reiterated his position that an autopsy must be conducted. He remains convinced that this is the most credible and responsible path to resolving all questions surrounding the unfortunate incident.
“We therefore urge the public to exercise restraint, refrain from speculation or premature conclusions, and allow the relevant authorities to carry out their responsibilities without interference. At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers remain with the family of the deceased, and we pray that God grants them the strength to bear this irreparable loss.”
Upping the ante, Umahi, told reporters on Sunday during the inspection of work along the Ebonyi section of the Calabar–Ebonyi–Benue–Nasarawa–Abuja Super Highway, saying his lawyers had been fully briefed to pursue legal action against those responsible for circulating alleged defamatory reports against him.
The Minister, who was quoted as condemning what he described as defamatory activities by “evil people who claim to be freedom fighters”, insisting such conduct should never be tolerated, explained that there was nothing hidden about the incident.
Explaining that the family of the deceased was in the full picture of the incident, being the ones who forced open the doors to the room after becoming concerned and immediately sought medical assistance, he said the police was fully in the matter also.
Wondering what led to people insinuating coverup on a matter that was already with the police, he was quoted as saying: “The family broke the girl’s door, called doctors from DUFUTH, who took her to hospital and did everything to revive her, but failed. The family reported the matter to the police, so where is the secrecy?”
For the first time in six years, Nigeria has recorded a crude oil and condensate production increase of an average of 1,735,398 barrels per day in June 2026, after posting consecutive four-month growth.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which made the announcement on Sunday, also indicated that the also met its production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Against the backdrop of scenarios, where oil theft and other shortcomings in the industry, which seemed peculiar had previously hampered crude production, which at a point dipped to as low as 700,000bpd, the agency through Eniola Akinkuotu, its spokesman, stated that in June, crude oil production hit 1.56mbpd while 0.18mbpd of condensates was produced, meaning the figure exceeded the OPEC quota of 1.5 mbpd by four per cent.
In strict crude oil terms (excluding condensates), the 1.56 million daily average production Nigeria witnessed in June is the highest that Africa’s biggest oil producer has recorded since April 2020, thus representing a 74-month high, the statement added.
Stressing the feat, the agency said in June, the peak combined crude oil and condensate production was 1.89mbpd, reflecting Nigeria’s potential to reach two million barrels per day in the near term, but however, the lowest production was 1.57mbpd for the period in review.
The NUPRC, while also stating that the improved performance was primarily driven by stable production operations across most producing assets, said the absence of any major pipeline outages during the period under review, resulting in enhanced operational stability supported improved production uptime and crude evacuation efficiency.
If a marching order by President Bola Tinubu, is achieved, every Nigerian would be captured in in the national identity database before the end of 2026, going by the signals coming from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Abisoye Coker-Odusote, Director General and Chief Executive Officer, who gave the out the information, said the President, the directive formed part of the Federal Government’s efforts to establish a comprehensive national identity system capable of supporting effective governance, planning, and service delivery.
A guest on Sunday Politics, a public affairs programme on Channels Television, the NIMC boss, told her host: “The President has given us till the end of this year to make sure that we capture every single Nigerian.
“What we have done is we have partnered through the World Bank ID4D project with front-end partners. They are part of the digital identity ecosystem. These are private citizens that we’ve enabled and given jobs to enrol citizens on our behalf.”
Stressing that the mandate of the agency, she explained that the National Identification Number (NIN) remained a unique identifier, ensuring that every individual is registered only once, stating that presently, Nigeria’s actual population remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from 200 million to 250 million, making a comprehensive identity database essential for national planning.
She said: “That’s why it’s called a unique identifier, so that you’re only enrolled once. It is estimated that we’re 200 million. When we’re done enrolling, we will then know the actual numbers that we have. Some estimates say 230 million, while a few people say 250 million.
“Your identity is basically the foundation for effective governance and service delivery. How can you plan if you don’t know the total number of persons that you have? We have been mandated by Mr President to go down to the community levels to enrol every single Nigerian.”
Dismissing the possibility of double registration under different guises, she said the NIMC boss said the commission’s biometric verification system prevents such occurrences, adding that while the previous system could accept duplicate enrolments before detecting them later, the current process automatically identified and invalidated multiple registrations.
“The legacy system had no way of verifying at the front end whether you had already been captured. Once the record comes into the system, it flags it as a duplicate or that the person already exists in the database.
“You would only have one identity generated for you. The other record goes into a deduplication bucket where it is invalidated. One of the things that this Act has done is to cement our role in capturing biometrics. Private and public sector organisations will no longer capture biometrics independently. They will validate identities through API integration with NIMC.
“The telcos are already doing that with us. If you need a SIM card, they capture your facial biometrics, which are matched against our database in real time to confirm that you are who you claim to be. We’re using biometric validation to tighten security around identity confirmation.”
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