The Labour Party has explained that pressure by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the reason both its National Chairman Julius Abure and the National Secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk, were last week barred from attending the commission’s meeting with political parties.
National Secretary of the party, Umar Farouk, who spoke in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said INEC became biased due to alleged threat by the NLC to picket the commission if it continued to recognise the Abure-led leadership of the party.
According Farouk, NLC’s legal adviser had allegedly severally written to INEC threatening to sue the commission for contempt of court if it continues to recognise the current leadership of the party.
Farouk argued that it was merely an empty threat because INEC was not in breach of any court judgement restraining the leadership of the party from parading themselves.
Farouk explained that the Nnewi convention of the party followed all due process, arguing that though the commission abstained from the convention on its volition, it had not contradicted the party on the validity of the convention.
“Actually, we were not barred. INEC writes to political parties on quarterly basis if there is any need to meet with political parties. When we saw that the Labour Party’s name was omitted, naturally, we write because it could be administrative or typographical error.
“Immediately when we saw the omission, we wrote to the chairman to observe that the name of Labour Party was omitted among the registered political parties. They didn’t get back to us to say we are not inviting us because INEC is clever. INEC doesn’t want to come out clearly and have an open fight with the Labour Party.
“And why are they doing that? Because they have been pressurised so much by the NLC. NLC has threatened to picket INEC. The NLC has written severally to INEC that they should not recognize Labour Party to the extent that they threatened to sue INEC for contempt of court. Which contempt of court? Is there any judgement that said that INEC should not recognize Labour Party or the leadership of Abure or the entire NWC. There is none whatsoever.
“The convention we had in Nnewi is legally upheld. We had followed the due process.
“So because of the pressure NLC is piling on INEC, then INEC unfortunately become biased.
“So when that late invitation came and we observed that the name of Labour Party was not there, immediately, I wrote to INEC to inform them. Since we informed them, because INEC did not say Abure is not the chairman of Labour Party or Farouk you are not the secretary of Labour Party up till now. Up till now, INEC it did not say it does not recognize Labour Party’s convention. We are waiting for INEC to say that they did not recognize the convention.
“They know it that claim cannot stand by law; we are law abiding. If INEC says it does not recognize our convention, go and and do something else, we will quickly go to court”, the party’s scribe explained