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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
National Chairman of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman and the acting National Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Benson Upah, have called on the Department of State Security (DSS) and other security agencies to arrest the party’s former National Chairman, Julius Abure, over an alleged illegal entry into the party’s National Secretariat.
The party has been engulfed in a prolonged leadership crisis, with Senator Usman and Abure laying claim to the party’s leadership.
However, in January 2026, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court recognised the Usman-led executive as the legitimate leadership of the party.
Usman and Upah made the call while addressing journalists on Wednesday at the Labour Party secretariat in Abuja.
Usman accused Abure of unlawfully entering into the secretariat on Tuesday night and allegedly carting away official and valid party documents.
She described the action as criminal and shameful, stressing that documents belonging to any institution must remain in the office to preserve institutional memory and continuity.
She maintained that the party was open to working with all stakeholders who had its interests at heart but insisted that no individual had the right to unlawfully access party facilities or remove official records after leaving office.
According to her, the matter had already been reported to security agencies and she expressed confidence that appropriate action would be taken.
Usman also outlined the party’s immediate focus, which she said included membership evaluation, registration of old and new members and taking stock of previous activities to strengthen the party’s foundation nationwide.
She added that the Labour Party’s strength lay in its broad base of workers, traders and grassroots supporters, working in collaboration with the NLC and the Trade Union Congress.
“So, for me to know what was in there took me a bit of time, but honestly, it is really very sad, so very, very sad thinking.
“Well, just like we have always said, we are not against anybody.
“We want to work with everybody. Anybody who wants to work with us, we just want to build the party. And for those of them who have the interest of the party at heart and are willing to work with us, we are working together.
“Well, I think every institution must be respected, and there must be an institutional memory.
“When you work in an office, a ministry, a political party office, or whatever, every document that belongs to that office belongs to the office. When it is your time to go, you go and you leave the document so that those who come from behind know what has happened, and they will build on it.
“But, for us to say that whenever you are living in a ministry or you are living in a political party office, you must still come in the night, and steal all the documents, you see, there is something terribly wrong about it.
“Yes, I am calling on them to take measures on it. We have reported them, and some of them, you can see, are out there. So, we have reported to them; you know, people should not think like, “Let’s measure where you can do anything, anyhow and get away with it.
“The moment people believe that you can do this kind of thing and get away with it is very, very sad.
“Anybody holding any office, anywhere, would want to do this kind of thing. As we are living, you’re still everything and going away with it.
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“Honestly, I am sure the Director General, DSS and his entire team, when they hear this, will be heartbroken. But, I’m very, very sure they will not let it go.
“Well, what we intend to do, just like we’ve always said, the first building block is membership evaluation, registering our old and new members and taking stock of what has happened before. So, that is where we are now.
“That is the building block. Because if you don’t know how many you are, how do you start knowing what you are planning? So, that is where we are starting from. Very important question, thank you.
“He has not endowed only one person with every attribute.
“Each and every person you see, like God, has endowed them in different ways. Even you, as we are standing here, only God knows what you will be. So please, let’s not limit ourselves to anything and claim that there is only one person who can do it.
“If you look at the LP and its membership, you can see I’m here with the NLC political commission; I’m here with the Secretary-General of the NLC and his assistant.
“We are working with TUC. I think Martins is supposed to be around; maybe he’s late.
“When you go to the grassroots and start taking stock of those who are workers, traders and market people, ideally our potential is huge, unless we are not doing the right thing.”
Speaking on behalf of the NLC, Upah condemned the alleged action, describing it as disgraceful and criminal.
He said breaking into a facility without authorisation amounted to a serious offence and also raised issues of contempt of court, given the ongoing leadership dispute.
Upah recalled past allegations made against labour leaders and said the current development reflected a consistent pattern of conduct. He urged the authorities to allow the law to take its full course and warned against any recurrence of such actions.
“Yes, it is quite shameful and disgusting. But this is in line with the character of the people who did this.
“You know, first and foremost, it is a criminal offence. When you break and enter a facility without authorization or a place you do not have access to, you do not have a right to access it.
“You don’t need to be a police officer to know that it is a very serious crime.
“But beside that, you will recall these same elements accused us of stealing money from this secretariat; that we took away billions. We took away worker salaries.
“So, the chickens have come to roost.
“It is consistent with their character. It is in the 1960s and in the daytime. It is shameful and it is contemptuous of the decisions of the court in this manner.
“So, we have two issues here, issues of contempt and issues bordering on crime.
“We condemn this in its entirety and we hope the law will take its due course.
“But beyond that, we do hope this will not happen again. If it does happen again, we know what to do.”
