The Edo State chapter of the Labour Party on Friday announced the suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, over corruption allegation and other infractions.
Abure’s suspension was announced at a press conference in Abuja, where the aggrieved party officials disclosed that the decision to hand down the sanction was a collective one.
But hours after he was axed, the National Working Committee of the party rose to the chairman’s defence by describing the sanction as illegal.
The vote of confidence was contained in a statement signed by LP National Secretary, Mallam Farouk Umar, and titled, ‘The Purported Suspension of our National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure by the Edo chapter of the Labour Party is illegal and of no consequences.’
While kicking against the action, Umar explained that the allegations levelled against Abure were ‘spurious, untrue and concocted.’
The NWC member also denied that the Edo delegation was a true representation of the party executives in the state.
He added, “The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party was called to the press conference held today, Friday, March 31, 2023, by some unknown faces assembled in one room in Abuja wherein they pronounced the suspension of our National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure. They also made some spurious allegations against him which are untrue and concocted by the sponsors of the press conference.
“The young men we saw on that visuals are apparently not anybody from Labour Party in Edo State as claimed. The executives of the party in the state, local government and my ward are well known to the party. None of them was at the press conference. We make bold to say that they are people assembled and rented from some Abuja slums and paid to read a prepared speech given to them.”
When contacted, Abure said he suspected that his suspension must have been orchestrated by the opposition and his critics.
He added, “How can anybody or group sack a party national chairman without proof or a meeting of the NWC and NEC? As you can see, members of this party are happy with me and the progress we have made so far. The things we have accomplished within six months, which other party can achieve them? Even with the manipulated results, we won 12 states just as the PDP. That is a huge progress,” he stated.
