The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe has thrown her weight behind the 29-man caretaker committee put in place by the Labour Party (LP) stakeholders last week.
Recall that Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, alongside the 2023 LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi had called for an enlarged stakeholders meeting to resolve the lingering leadership crisis in the party.
At the meeting, which was held in Umuahia, Abia State capital, the Nenadi Usman-led caretaker committee was set up to steer the affairs of the party and conduct a national convention.
However, the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure; National Secretary, Umar Farouk and the National Youth Leader, Kennedy Ahanotu, were conspicuously absent at the meeting.
Speaking at the flag-off of a four-day free medical outreach, Kingibe said Abure and his loyalists were yet to come to terms with reality.
The senator, who was represented by her Senior Legislative Aide, Chris Omofoma, told Punch that every LP member knew Abure’s tenure alongside his NWC had ended as far back as June 2023.
She said, “There is no crisis in the Labour Party. It is Abure’s NWC that refused to admit that its tenure has ended.
Even INEC has clearly stated that Abure’s tenure ended in 2023 June. But Alex Otti and Peter Obi extended it by one year so the party could recover from the (2023) election losses before conducting the national convention.
“So their tenure was extended to June 8, 2024, which has lapsed. Whatever Alex Otti, Obi and other party stakeholders did is well in line with the constitution and INEC guidelines.
“It is left for Abure to come to terms with the reality that his tenure is over and it is time to do the needful. I am in sync with the Nenadi Usman-led committee and I back it 100 per cent. That is the way to go.”