The Nigeria Labour Congress’s choice of an acting party chairman for Gombe State has drawn criticism from the Lamidi Apapa section of the Labour Party.
The party faction disapproved of the development and called it intolerable.
The Julius Abure side also acknowledged that it was unaware of the incident and mentioned that Gombe was already a legitimate state chairman.
Recent tensions between the NLC and the LP leadership have escalated to the point that the NLC accused Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the LP, of managing the party’s operations as the only administrator.
Under the leadership of its National Secretary, Chris Uyot, the NLC political commission assumed over and supported Sani Abdulsalam, the former chairman of the Gombe LP, who had supposedly been fired for anti-party activities by the National Working Committee led by Julius Abure.
Uyot declared that Abdulsalam would take charge of the party’s operations while the state’s local government elections were being held.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, the Department of State Services, the Gombe State Police Command, and the Secretary to the Gombe State Government all received copies of the letter.
The letter partly read, “To whom it may concern. We bring you fraternal greetings from the NLC political commission. We write to communicate the appointment of Alhaji Sani Abdulsalam as interim Chairman of LP in Gombe.
“His appointment is for the period up till the conduct of local government elections in Gombe State. Thereafter, a more substantive state transition committee of the Labour Party in Gombe State will be constituted.
“While we look forward to your cooperation, please accept the renewed assurance of our highest esteem.”
The Apapa faction’s spokesman, Abayomi Arabambi, refuted the plan in a private discussion on Sunday.
The NLC, according to Arabambi, lacked the authority to force anyone onto the party.
He said, “The NLC political commission is not a party. We intend to take very drastic constitutional action against them.
“Already, we have warned them not to disobey the constitution of our party. They are merely a pressure group.
“No section of the LP constitution ceded the control of the party to the NLC or TUC.
“Furthermore, it is rather unfortunate that while some well-meaning members of the party are striving and making attempts to steer the ship of the nation on the path of growth and genuine development towards the repositioning of our party for victory in 2027, the NLC and its political commission are determined to destroy, tear down and demolish the party on the quest for personal aggrandisement.”
Obiora Ifoh, the LP’s National Publicity Secretary, held a same opinion.
Ifoh revealed that the Abure-led NWC was unaware of the latest event, even though LP already had a legitimate state chairman in Gombe.
He said that Abdulsalam had been the state chairman before his removal due to purported anti-party conduct.
“We are unaware of that development because the Labour Party has its leadership in Gombe State.
“We have LP chairmen in all the 36 states and the FCT. In Gombe, we already have a chairman who INEC is working with.
“Anybody can come out to claim he appoints somebody. Just like INEC, we are not aware of it.”
“The so-called appointed person, Abdulsalam, was a former chairman disengaged by LP for anti-party activities.
“A new leadership was elected into office after his exit. But because of the conflict we had with the NLC, the same man went around to congress and they recognised him.
“However, I think it is a mere recognition and not an appointment in the true sense.
“But we are not interested in joining issues with anybody in the media. For now, we are gradually working towards resolving the crisis between LP and NLC.”
