LP crisis: Abure’s faction rejects Usman’s claims, insists secretariat illegally invaded

From Sola Ojo, Abuja

The Julius Abure-led Labour Party (LP) has dismissed claims made by factional caretaker committee chairman, Nenadi Usman, accusing her and her supporters of unlawfully invading the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

Responding to Usman’s earlier press conference, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, described her claims as misleading and self-indicting.

To him, her own account of events confirmed that she and her group were responsible for the alleged break-in.

According to Ifoh, the incident occurred around 1am on Tuesday, February 10, when some persons allegedly scaled the fence of the secretariat, pulled down official party billboards and replaced them with materials linked to Usman.

The party said Usman later arrived at the premises before noon with police protection, and that videos in circulation showed her supporters breaking into several offices, including that of the National Chairman, Julius Abure. He questioned how Usman and her allies gained access to offices that were still under the control of the Abure-led leadership, stressing that there was no formal handover of the secretariat.

“At all material times, the offices were under the control of Julius Abure and the keys were in his custody,” the party said.

The faction also maintained that the leadership dispute remains in court, adding that execution of a lower court’s judgement had been stayed pending appeal.

“There is an ongoing judicial process and until final determination by the appellate courts, Usman cannot claim to be the rightful possessor of the office,” Ifoh said.

He further alleged that there was ongoing looting at the secretariat following the takeover, noting that legal action would be taken at the appropriate time.

He said the party would soon hold a separate press conference to present documents, including police reports and forensic analysis, to counter what it described as false allegations made against its leaders.

He, therefore, urged members of the public to disregard Usman’s press conference, describing it as ill-advised and an attempt to portray the party leadership in a bad light.