Labour Party Must Obey The 2018 Consent Ruling For Peace To Reign – Says Factional Chairman, Callistus Okafor

It seems that the crisis raging within one of Nigeria’s opposition parties, the Labour Party, is yet to end as one of its factional chairmen, Callistus Okafor, has declared that until the consent judgement of March 2018 is obeyed and adhered to, peace would continue to elude the party. 

Okafor made the submission whilst fielding questions on a political programme aired recently on TVC.

He gave a historical foundation to the beginning of the crisis, which he said began when the warring factions namely himself, Mike Omotosho on one hand and A.A Salami group on the other, alongside Aliyu Wabba, the then President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, secured a consent judgement.

He said the consent judgement held that no one could lay claim to the leadership of the Labour Party until a National Convention is held with the then warring factions participating in the convention. He also pointed out that the other factional chairman, Julius Abure, has no locus standi to have assumed the office in the past or even now since he was neither a Deputy National Chairman or one of the six National Vice Chairmen.

He wondered how Abure or Apapa could assume themselves to be National Chairmen in the light of the existence of the consent judgement, which he said was irrevocable on the parties which sought the judgement.

Okafor also blamed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last general elections, Mr. Peter Obi, of not acting as a statesman or doing what he says. Okafor pointed out that what he, Obi, should naturally have done would have been to have sued for peace amongst these factions. Rather he went on to work with only one faction, which had no basis but for the fact that there was an agreement of sorts between Obi and Abure even though the party was imploding.

Okafor accused the leadership of the NLC as living in a dreamland, citing that the Constitution of the Labour Party does not give the NLC any powers to determine who acts as what in the party as only a properly constituted NWC of the party could do such.

Okafor however,, thanked INEC for doing the right thing by refusing to monitor Abure’s illegal convention in Nnewi, where he Abure was allegedly re-elected.