LP: Usman accuses INEC of double standards, demands recognition as interim chairman

From Idu Jude and Sola Ojo, Abuja

The factional Interim National Working Committee (INWC) Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Nenadi Usman, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of dragging its feet in recognising her as legitimate leader despite a Supreme Court judgment delivered on April 4, which conclusively resolved the party’s leadership crisis.

Nenadi commended INEC for rejecting the list of candidates submitted by Julius Abure-led and his “disco group” and demanded that the commission should go ahead and publish candidates nominated for the August 16 by-election and council polls by her faction which she described as “legitimate party leadership.”

“So long as the Labour Party remains a fully registered political party with all requisite legal authority, INEC has a bounded duty to include our validly nominated candidates.

“Anything short of this will amount to an act ultra vires the powers of INEC and I trust the Commission will, in the present circumstances, do the right and lawful thing,” she opined.

She criticised INEC for what she described as “inexplicable administrative delays,” noting that while the new APC national chairman’s name had already been updated on the commission’s portal, her name as well as that of the new ADC leadership remained unreflected weeks after legal and internal transitions were completed. “These lapses are capable of eroding public confidence in INEC’s credibility and neutrality,” she warned.

Former national treasurer of the party, Mrs Oluchi Opara, applauded INEC’s exclusion of Abure’s nominees from the final list of candidates, calling it a bold move to uphold electoral integrity and the rule of law.

Meanwhile, hieftain of the Labour Party, LP in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Hon. Chinoso Okeke, has officially resigned from the party citing internal leadership crises, transactional leadership, and fragrant flaunting of constituted authority.

Okeke, who is vying for the chairmanship of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), announced his resignation on Monday, with a resolve to check out other peaceful political parties capable of representing his political ideologies.

On his grounds for resigning from the party, he pointed out that the Labour Party has become a transactional leadership where personal interests override those of the party.

Also, he emphasised that the former Chairman of the party seriously flaunted constituted authority for selfish gains, when it failed to adhere to the Supreme Court Judgement that pronounced the Nnewi convention a nulity.

“Based on these outlines bordering on party policies I can no longer maintain my membership of the party in a good conscience.”