Politics
Former ally reveals why Obi mustn’t be given NDC structure
Julius Abure, the factional National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has cautioned Senator Seriake Dickson, leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), against handing over the party structure entirely to Peter Obi and his supporters, warning that such a move could trigger a crisis similar to the one that engulfed the Labour Party after the 2023 general election.
Abure issued the warning in a statement personally signed on Monday, following Obi’s emergence as the NDC presidential candidate after his ratification at the party’s national convention held in Abuja on May 30.
The LP chieftain said Dickson appeared to have drawn lessons from the Labour Party’s internal wrangling, commending reports that the NDC leadership had resisted pressure to allocate all elective positions within the party to Obi’s loyalists.
According to Abure, the events that unfolded within the Labour Party after the 2023 elections should serve as a cautionary tale for the NDC leadership.
“They say history usually repeats itself. Senator Dickson and Co. have seen their trajectory and learnt from what happened to us, that a lot of them, after they had won and were now in government, turned around and started struggling with the leadership of the party,” he said.
“I want to say that Obi and his followers are ingrates who will never remember the sacrifices you made for them. It is even dangerous for the leadership of the NDC to wholly hand over the elective positions to Obi and his followers.”
Abure alleged that several politicians elected on the Labour Party platform in 2023, including Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti, later opposed the party leadership despite the support they received during the elections.
He maintained that the Labour Party prioritised Obi’s interests ahead of the polls by granting tickets to many of his supporters, with some of the nominations reportedly offered free of charge.
“We ensured that Obi’s interests were adequately taken care of. We only looked at his body language, and we obliged most of his supporters’ tickets,” Abure stated.
“Most of the tickets were for free, believing that we were investing in those persons in line with the philosophy of the party.”
The former LP chairman further claimed that the party’s leadership crisis worsened after the Independent National Electoral Commission acted on a court ruling which declared that the tenure of the party’s executives had expired, paving the way for the emergence of the Nenadi Usman-led interim national committee.
“They fell into the trap of INEC when the commission deceived them to say that the tenure of the executive had expired. We had expected them to reject that position,” he said.
Abure advised Dickson to ensure that trusted loyalists occupy key positions within the NDC in order to preserve the party’s internal structure and leadership authority.
“He needed to bring his own people so that when the chips are down, he will also have people that will speak and defend him,” he added.
He also accused Obi’s supporters of seeking to dominate the NDC’s leadership framework, alleging that they had adopted a similar approach to the one witnessed within the Labour Party.
“They trooped into NDC with Obi hoping to occupy every space like they did in the Labour Party. No leader of any political party seeing what Obi did to the Labour Party, along with his followers, will make that mistake again,” Abure said.