Labour Party Blasts Tinubu’s Minister, LP Faction Reacts

The leadership of the Labour Party (LP) claims that Nkiruka Onyejeocha, the minister of state for Labor and Employment, and the Lamidi Apapa faction are conspiring to sow discord within the party.

The Labour Party made this accusation after two lawyers representing the Independent National Electoral Commission had appeared in the Lagos appellate court last week bearing a letter of authorization to speak on behalf of INEC in the case between Amobi Ogah of LP and Nkiruka Onyejeocha of the APC.

Recall that Ogah and Onyejeocha contested for the Isiukwuato Umunneochi Federal Constituency election earlier this year and INEC declared Oga the winner of the election with 11,769 votes as against Umunneochi’s 8,752 votes.

However, a National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal located in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, ruled that the LP candidate’s election was invalid.

In ruling on the Umuahia petition (file number EPT/AB/HR/8/2023), a three-member tribunal panel found that Ogah had broken the terms of the Election Act.

Ogah maintained that Onyejeocha’s appointment as a Federal Republic of Nigeria minister demonstrated the abandonment of her petition.

In its ruling, the tribunal, however, rejected the legislator’s argument.

The appearance of two different lawyers claiming to have the authority to represent INEC in the appeal hearing in Lagos forced the hearing to be postponed.

In reaction to the incident, the LP’s National Youth Leader, Kennedy Ahanotu, told reporters on Wednesday at the party secretariat in Abuja that they had information indicating the drama was being planned by a faction of the LP and the minister.

Ahanotu, accompanied at the conference by National Legal Adviser Kehinde Edun and National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh, further stated that they were certain she was working with some of the party’s expelled members.

“The leadership of the Labour Party wishes to inform Nigerians on yet an unholy alliance between the Minister of State for Labour, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, and some expelled members of our party led by Chief Lamidi Apapa, whose purpose is to ensure that crisis is sustained perpetually in our party”, he said.

“One may begin to wonder what connects the minister and the Labour Party that she will go to the length of instigating and funding crisis within the party. We are, however, aware that the former lawmaker is fighting a personal and proxy war against the party.

“Onyejeocha has been in the national assembly since 2007 until the February 25 general election when she was defeated by Amobi Ogah by a very wide margin. Her loss to Amobi Ogah was a pill too hard to swallow; hence, she has vowed to use all her connections to ensure that the election declared by INEC is upturned in her favour.”

Also, Ahanotu explained the confusion that led to the appearance of two lawyers at the appellate court last week, stating that they believed there was foul play.

The member of the LP National Working Committee also noted that the letter was allegedly deliberately delayed to obstruct Ogar’s appeals process, even though J. O. Asoluka’s law firm was supposed to officially take over.

“The desperation by lawyers from the firm of Yunus Ustaz Usman to insist on representing INEC, even when the firm had already written to INEC withdrawing its services, stoked our curiosity. But the embarrassed Usman has completely distanced himself from the action”, Ahanotu said.

“On further investigation, we realized that INEC failed to release this letter written on the 17th by the firm of Yunus Ustaz Usman (SAN) withdrawing from the case. The letter only surfaced after the unfortunate incident at the Appeal Court. So we are wondering if there was any threat from high places against officials of the INEC preventing them from making the letter public.

“We also took special note of the presence of the Apapa-led splinter group, which attempted to hijack the representation of the party at the court. How did this splinter group come into the scenario and who got them involved? It is a known fact that this group has evolved as meddlesome interlopers and has severally worked against the larger interest of the Labour Party, even when the Supreme Court has refused them recognition”.

The minister reacts:

The minister’s special media adviser, Gabriel Emameh, responded to the allegation by urging the Labour Party to focus on its internal crisis.

Emameh denied the Labour Party’s allegation, stating that a well-known former federal lawmaker who has worked for the country for 16 years would never collaborate with the opposition party.

“Ahanotu has forgotten so soon that the crisis in the Labour Party started even before the inauguration of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council in 2022. Why Ahanotu and his gang believe that Honourable Onyejeocha is the source of the army of problems that have ripped LP inside out is not just arrantly illogical but obsessive and demonic”, he said.

“Despite all the pre-election posturing, it was all too clear to every discerning mind that the Labour Party was a fantasy house built on sand, of which its loss at the Presidential poll has continued to expose its rotten underbelly.

“Robbed of her victory to return to the 10th Assembly, by LP’s Amaobi Ogah, the learned judges of the Abia State National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal saw through the heist and returned her as duly elected. As a strong believer in the rule of law and the sanctity of the courtroom as well as the judiciary as the citadel of justice, she is optimistic that Daniel will also come to judgment at the Appeal Tribunal.

“My honest and sincere counsel is that the LP should face up to the pervasive leadership crises in the party, look inwards and reinvent itself and allow the honourable minister to focus as she is too busy to be distracted.”

Apapa faction Reacts

Abayomi Arabambi, the spokesman for the Apapa faction, responded to Ahanotu’s claim in a statement, disputing it and claiming that they had no contact with the minister.

Arabambi emphasized that if the minister feels that her authority has been violated, she is free to file a lawsuit.

“The LP dispels the allegation of alliance between the party and the Minister of State, Labour, and Employment, as purportedly stated in Ahanotu’s concocted piece. We urge Nigerian citizens to feign ignorance of such a statement in the form of character assassination against a true democrat and a true citizen, who (Onyejeocha) is fighting to reclaim her mandate”, the LP faction said.

“The LP has no relationship with the minister, neither did the party go against any Nigerian seeking redress in the courts of law. For the records, we need to educate the crops of baby charge and bail lawyers on Julius Abure’s payrolls on the issue of qualification. We submit that the issue of qualification of a candidate as it relates to its sponsorship by a political party is both a pre-election and post-election.

“Therefore going to court to challenge the declaration of Amobi Ogar by Nkeiruka Onyejeocha is her right that the LP is never against. The LP under Apapa has no problem with the minister as insinuated in the statement issued by Prince Ahanotu. We support any Nigerian citizen(s) whose rights are trampled upon to fight by seeking redress in the courts.”