Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti has berated the former National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure over the continued sale of governorship nomination forms to aspirants, despite the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) opposition to his leadership.
According to reports, Otti’s outburst followed a photograph of Abure presenting the Labour Party nomination form to a former National Vice Chairman of the party, Ceekay Igara, and other party members.
Igara, in an interview with journalists, said the move was part of ongoing preparations ahead of pending judicial determinations affecting the party.
Igara said stakeholders were taking a cautious approach to avoid a vacuum in case of a final court ruling on the party’s leadership tussle.
“We have two cases, one at the Supreme Court and the other at the Federal High Court, he said. If we say Abure should be docile, all the 33 states that did congresses will just go into extinction. If the Supreme Court gives him the structure later and the primaries have closed, what happens?”
However, Governor Otti, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Ukoha Ukoha, in an interview with PUNCH, questioned Abure’s authority to continue to parade himself as the National Chairman after a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled that Senator Nenadi Usman was the interim leader of the Labour Party before the convention.
Ukoha said Abure is taking actions that go against existing judicial pronouncements, stressing that the Labour Party had already moved on from his leadership.
“The electoral body has already aligned itself with the leadership structure that was backed by the court. “INEC could not monitor any electoral process conducted under the authority of Abure legitimately,” the Governor’s aide said.
“I think Abure is in a better position to explain the grounds on which he is still parading himself after a Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled that senator Nenadi Usman was the interim leader of the Labour Party before the convention. So the party has moved on. INEC has also obeyed the order of a court with jurisdiction to entertain the matter. That is contempt of court on part of Julius Abure.
“It is left for Abure to tell Nigerians why he is issuing nomination forms in contravention of the order of a competent court.”
