By Nelson Utip
Conflict broke out at the Labour Party’s (LP) Secretariat in the Edo State Chapter when thugs loyal to the embattled National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure clashed with protesters believed to be party supporters demanding Abure’s removal, trouble started as the anti-Abure protesters invaded the party headquarters in several vehicles, holding placards and chanting solidarity songs. As they were embarking from their vehicles, the suspected thugs swarm on the vehicles with sticks and other objects, forcing the drivers to speed off.
Policemen and men of the Department of State Security (DSS) quickly intervened as the thugs started throwing stones into the nearby Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, attacking Journalists who were in covering the event.
READ ALSO: Labour Party Crisis: Abure Suspended From Office Over Fraud
The security officials’ intervention prevented the situation from getting out of hand as a police vehicle was stationed between the warring factions.
However , The Labour Party’s National Working Committee (NWC) has declared the Edo State chapter’s suspension of its National Chairman, Julius Abure, is “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”
According to Newsmen, the clarification comes amid internal squabbles in the party which climaxed in the suspension of Abure by his local ward in Esan North-East Local Government in the State.
READ ALSO: LP Crisis: NLC Sacks Abure, to Conduct Audit on Party’s Accounts
The fracas can be traced to a letter dated May 14, 2024 which was ratified on May 15, 2024, in which Abure was suspended with immediate effect for alleged highhandedness and anti-party activities, the decisions were endorsed by The State Executive Committee, led by Kelly Ogbaloi, during a meeting on Friday night in Benin.
In a statement in Abuja on Saturday, The Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, stated that the Edo State chapter acted without proper authority according to Ifoh, the party’s constitution states in Article 17 Subsection 1 of the 2019 revision that only a national convention convened specifically for this purpose and achieving a two-thirds majority can suspend or remove the National Chairman.
