The Labour Party (LP) has appointed Senator Esther Nenadi Usman as the Chairperson of its Caretaker Committee.

Usman’s appointment was announced during a stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, on Wednesday.

The new leadership is tasked with resolving the party’s ongoing leadership crisis.

Senator Usman, a former Minister of Finance and representative of Kaduna South senatorial district from 2011 to 2015, will lead the 29-member committee responsible for reorganizing the party and guiding it towards electoral success.

The committee has 90 days to complete its assignment, which includes organizing a convention to elect new leadership at all levels, from the ward to the national stage.

The immediate past Senate Minority Deputy Leader, Senator Darlington Nwokocha from Abia Central, will serve as the committee’s Secretary.

The meeting was hosted by Governor Alex Otti and attended by prominent party officials, including presidential candidate Peter Obi, his running mate Datti Ahmed, Senator Victor Umeh, and Lagos State governorship candidate Rhodes-Vivour.

On a related note, Abure declares Umuahia Stakeholders meeting Illegal, Unconstitutional

The Labour Party (LP), led by Barrister Julius Abure, has firmly rejected the conclusions of a stakeholders meeting convened by Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, in Umuahia
At the end of stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, on Wednesday, Senator Esther Nenadi Usman was appointed as the Chairperson of Labour Party Caretaker Committee.

The new leadership is tasked with resolving the party’s ongoing leadership crisis and was given 90 days to complete its assignment, which includes organizing a convention to elect new leadership at all levels, from the ward to the national stage.

The meeting was hosted by Governor Alex Otti and attended by prominent party officials, including presidential candidate Peter Obi, his running mate Datti Ahmed, Senator Victor Umeh, and Lagos State governorship candidate Rhodes-Vivour.

However, in a statement released on September 4, 2024, Abure and the party’s National Secretary, Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim, declared the meeting illegal and unconstitutional.

The party leadership asserts that Governor Otti and the other participants lack the authority, as defined by the Party Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to call any meeting of the Party. They emphasized that an expanded Stakeholders’ meeting is not recognized by the Party’s Constitution.

Referencing Articles 11 and 12 of the Labour Party Constitution, the leadership outlined the four levels of Party Organizations and the Principal Organs that do not include an expanded Stakeholders’ meeting. They condemned the Umuahia meeting as a charade and a waste of time and resources for the people of Abia.

Abure challenged Governor Otti to present an official letter from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that contests the conduct of the National Convention, emphasizing that government matters should be communicated through official written correspondence, not verbally.

The party also expressed dismay over the fact that the chairman of the caretaker committee appointed by Governor Otti is not a registered member of the Party and only appeared during Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign to support him. Abure asserts that there is no leadership vacuum within the party and that the caretaker committee is not recognized by the Party’s constitution, characterizing it as a division of the Abia State Government House.

The statement was signed by Mr. Obiora Ifoh, the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, on behalf of the party leadership.

We are filled with a deep sense of betrayal as the federal government clandestinely increases the pump price of pms. One of the reasons for accepting N70,000 as national minimum wage was the understanding that the pump price of pms would not be increased even as we knew that N70,000 was not sufficient.

We recall vividly when Mr President gave us the devil’s alternatives to choose from: either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of the pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old pms rates), we opted for the latter because we could not bring ourselves to accept further punishment on Nigerians.

But here we are, barely one month after and with government yet to commence payment of the new national minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain.

It is both traumatic and nightmarish.

Yet, when we told government that it’s approach to resolving the fuel subsidy contradictions was patently faulty and would not last, it’s front row cheer leaders sneered at us, saying we did not understand basic economics .

But if truth be told, this act of betrayal is consistent with the character of this government. We recall the assurances we were given by the leadership of the National Assembly on the 250% tariff hike, that it had been dealt with and there was no need to openly engage the Minister of Power who was at that meeting.

Instead of the promised reversal, the rate has since been jerked up further putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy.

The combined effects of government’s ferocious right -wing market policies brought Nigerians and Nigeria to their all-time low and led to the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance protests.

Rather than make amends, government arrested and hounded into detention some of those who took part and some of those who had nothing to do with these protests, charging them with criminal conspiracy, subversion, treasonable felony, terrorism financing and cyber crime with an intent to overthrow the government of President Tinubu.

The police and other security agencies have since been on rampage terrorising the citizenry in pursuance of government’s agenda of muzzling lawful dissent.

In brazen pursuit, they have defamed and libelled not a few individuals.

They have gone as far as appropriating the statutory roles of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in resolving trade dispute matters and issues considered outside the jurisdiction of the security agencies.

That the government is on rampage in the face of stifling conditions of living is an understatement but we promise Nigerians that we at the Nigeria Labour Congress will not be cowed into submission. Together with civil society, we brought about this democracy when some of the actors in power today were conspiring with the military on how to perpetuate their hold on political power.

When the State and the security forces picked on us in a hybrid war, we had our suspicions. We knew they were up to something sinister and needed to distract/divert our attention or possibly frighten or weaken us before they came out with it so that we would not have a robust response.

Now that they chickens have come to roost, we were right in our suspicions. However, we want to let Nigerians know that the clandestine/surreptitious increase in the pump price of pms is the first among the equally sinister policies government has up its sleeve.

On our part, we stand resolute with the people and will neither be distracted nor intimidated by the government or its security agencies.

We insist that government cannot criminalise protests or basic rights in the domain of the citizenry.

Accordingly, we demand the immediate:
1). Reversal of the latest increase in the pump of pms across the country;

2). Release of all those incarcerated or being prosecuted on the assumption of having participated in the recent protests;

3). Halt the indiscriminate arrest and detention of citizens on trumped up charges;

4). Reversal of the 250% tariff hike in electricity;

5). Stop to the hijack of the duties of the Ministry of Labour and Employment;

6). End to policies that engender hunger and insecurity;

7). Halt to government’s culture of terror, fear and lying.

We are guided by our belief in our country and the need to secure and sustain its sovereignty, integrity and welfare of the people.

In the coming days, the appropriate organs of the Congress will be meeting to take appropriate decisions which will be made public.

Comrade Joe Ajaero
President

Northern minorities are calling for the restructuring of Nigeria into three regions: the South, the Middle-Belt, and the North.

Under the Coalition of Indigenous Middle Belt Organisations (CIMBO), these ethnic nationalities convened a conference in Kaduna where they also demanded the rewriting of the current 1999 constitution. They believe that restructuring and establishing a new ‘people’s constitution’ are essential for achieving peace and development in Nigeria.

A communiqué issued at the conclusion of the two-day conference proposed that the recommendations from the 2014 national conference should serve as the foundation for this restructuring.

During the conference, Professor Ejeikwu Emmanuel Oloja presented a paper titled “The Position of the Middle Belt on Restructuring, Boundary Adjustments, and Constitutional Review,” which advocated for the division of Nigeria into the South, Middle-Belt, and Northern regions.

He argued that a restructured Nigeria, comprised of multiple units, would promote true federalism, reduce corruption, and lessen the reliance on federal allocations. This, in turn, would heighten the struggle for resource control.

The conference communiqué, co-signed by Chairman Timothy Barau Gandu and Secretary Prof. Emmanuel O. Ejeikwu, emphasized that the call for restructuring is more urgent than ever, particularly due to the significant growth and diversity of the Middle Belt’s population, which is estimated to be 44 million as of June 2024.