Labour Party distances itself from suspension of national leader Julius Abure

The Labour Party’s National Working Committee has described the suspension of its national chairman, Lawyer Julius Abure, by officials of Ward 3 in Arue-Uromi, Esan North-East Local Government Area as fabricated.

DAILY POST reports that the State Working Committee ratified the purported suspension of the party’s national chairman in Benin City on the night of Friday, May 24, 2024.

Reacting to the suspension, the National Working Committee of the party on Saturday, May 25, 2024, stated that its National Chairman had not been suspended from the leadership of Ward 3, Arue-Uromi, Esan, North East, Edo State.

In a statement dated 25 May 2024 signed by the party’s national press secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the party’s district chairman said:

Thompson Ehiguese did not have the power to remove or suspend a national chairman under the party constitution.

Ifoh added that Thompson Ehiguese, the county chairman, had also refuted the alleged suspension in a video circulated online, insisting that the county leadership was loyal to the chairman and was also well aware that under the party constitution, it did not have the power to remove or suspend a national chairman.

According to him, neither the county, nor the local government, nor even the state have the power under the Constitution to suspend the national chairman.

“The Benin Divisional Court of Appeal on August 14, 2023, presided over by Justice Theresa Ngolika Orji-Abadua, heard a case brought by Lucky Shaibu and others against Julius Abure and others and upheld the judgment of the lower court in its ruling that the National Chairman of the Labour Party cannot be suspended or dismissed by the district executive,” he said.

He said the party leadership is currently investigating the source of the alleged suspension letter and will take prompt disciplinary action in accordance with the party constitution against any official found to be violating the party constitution.