*Describes Bauchi NEC Meeting as a charade
The Ogun State chapter of Labour Party has restated its support, loyalty and recognition of Barrister Julius Abure as the authentic National Chairman of the party, after the unsuccessful attempt by some suspended and expelled members of the party to remove Abure from office.
The party made known its position in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Tokunbo Peters, on Thursday in Abeokuta.
The statement described the purported National Executive Council meeting held in Bauchi by Lamidi Apapa and his cohorts as a charade and a gathering of renegades being sponsored by the ruling APC to destabilise Labour Party and to frustrate the case of the Party at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
The statement added that the Ogun State leadership of Labour Party under the Chairmanship of Engr Lookman Abiodun Jagun was fully represented at the legitimate NEC meeting of Labour Party held on Wednesday 3rd May, 2023 in Abuja, where Thirty Three State Chairmen and their Secretaries from all over the federation were present.
The statement described as a huge joke the purported suspension of Kehinde Sogunle and some members of the Ogun State Executive of the party as contained in a laughable communique issued by Lamidi Apapa and his band of usurpers at their Bauchi charade. Kehinde Sogunle remains the Labour Party governorship candidate in Ogun State and a respected chieftain of Labour Party, while Engr Lookman Abiodun Jagun remains the Ogun State Chairman of the party.
The statement reiterates that Mr Lamidi Apapa and his cohorts have since been suspended from the party by the legitimate NEC of the Party, while Mr Abayomi Arabambi, the former acting publicity secretary, has long been banished from the Labour Party following his expulsion. Hence, he is in no longer in a position to speak for the party under any guise.
The statement restates that Lamidi Apapa and his cohorts have no legitimacy and recognition by any state chapter of the Labour Party, not even by the Oyo State chapter where Apapa hails from. The NLC, TUC and INEC also do not recognise these usurpers.
The only people who reckon with them are their paymasters in APC, who are using them to create confusion and destabilisation in the Party, with a view to scuttling Peter Obi’s case at the Presidential Election Tribunal.
The statement urged the Obidient movement and the teeming supporters of the Labour Party in the 3rd Force Movement to remain steadfast as there are no divisions within the party. The party under the able leadership of Barrister Julius Abure is focused on recovering the mandate freely given to our principal, Mr Peter Obi in Court.
