The National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the Labour Party has asked the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) to charge the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure and three others to court over allegations of perjury, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

The committee also wants Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Ojukwu clement and Edward Nkwegu Okereke charged for the same offence by the AGF.

Addressing reporters on Monday in Abuja, Acting chairman of the Labour Party (LP) National Caretaker Committee (NCC), Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku urged the AGF to bring the “suspects to Court within seven (7) days, as directed by the Inspector General of Police, IGP.”

He said: “The Labour Party LP wishes to commend the Commissioner of Police, Legal Prosecution Section, Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Force Headquarters Abuja, FCT in the Office of the Inspector General of Police, IGP who wrote to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice on the 25th October 2023, forwarding the duplicate case diary after establishing a culpable PRIMA FACIE case for which the Inspector General of Police, IGP authorised the prosecution of Julius Abure, Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Ojukwu clement and Edward Nkwegu in the referenced case of perjury, forgery and criminal conspiracy CR: 3100/ X/LEG/FHQ /ABJ/VOL.II/1 dated 25th October, 2023.

“This demand to ensure that Julius Abure and others are prosecuted without further delays is additionally a public consensus in collaboration with the over 500 civil society organisation (CSO), and all the conveners of anti-corruption initiatives that shall mobilise not less 1000 persons per group to demand for the immediate prosecution of Julius Abure, Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Ojukwu clement and others in line with this press briefing.

“That the The Labour Party National Caretake Committee, NCC has noted with great bewilderment how the suspects Julius Abure goes about bragging and boasting that as far as his sister remains the permanent secretary of Ministry of Justice in Abuja, that nobody can prosecute him nor his criminal accomplices.

“That these criminal elements violated with impunity the FCT High Court Restraining Order of 4th April 2023 that restrained Julius Abure, Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim, Ojukwu clement for perjury, forgery and criminal conspiracy from parading themselves as National officials of the Labour Party LP and how they proceeded to conduct illegal and unlawful NEC meeting in Asaba Delta State on 17th April 2023 while on subsisting FCT High Court Restraining Order and yet paraded themselves as officials of the Labour Party in Nigeria is still a mystery and their unlawful action rendered illegal null and void.

“That the The Labour Party National Caretake Committee, NCC hereby call on the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (HAGF-MJ) to without further delay bring the suspects to Court within seven (7) days, as directed by the Inspector General of Police, IGP.”

But the National Publicity Secretary of the Abure – led faction, Obiora Ifoh in a statement said the statement in “entirety is fallacious, misleading and a calculated attempt to malign the image of Barrister Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party.”

Ifoh said: “First the forensic report and the investigative Police report from the Police have stated clearly that there was no forgery. The file that was forwarded to the Attorney General has since been returned to the Police on the ground that the forensic report exonerated the four persons clearly. Meaning that they have no case to answer and this is to the knowledge of Prof Ndubaku and his Co jesters. It is therefore laughable that someone will be giving ultimatum to the Attorney General of the Federation in a case that is not in existence. It is therefore clear that Mr. Ndubaku and his gang are acting in bad fate, using every available opportunity to tarnish the image of the party. Members of the Public has since known them for their rascality.

“Secondly, it is in the public domain that some of these people assiduously and violently working to take over the leadership of the party are not even members of the party, including Ndubaku. The NLC according to the laws that established it has no power to even set up the Political Commission in the first instance. Letters from INEC, Ministry of Labour and other quarters have pointed to this fact. Also, the last time I checked, the leadership of the NLC in their last NEC meeting set up a committee to work out an alliance between it and other political parties ahead of 2027 general election. So Ndubaku and his cohorts are even not aware that the cabal that set his Transition Committee has since left the bus stop. So who are they working for?

“Let me sincerely advise Mr. Ndubaku and his co-travellers to go and look for another job to do. In this political business, Labour Party is different from other political parties. We have shown that we are a great and purposeful organisation working for the greater interest of Nigeria. These men must be dreaming if they think that they can hijack the Labour Party and use it for their selfish goal. Labour Party is not available for that, and I advice them to go and find a decent job to do. No amount of pressure, blackmail or false information can force the leadership to handover the party to them.”

The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the 2023 general elections, Adewole Adebayo, says the SDP is not making any plan for merger or collaboration with the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, or any party ahead of the 2027 elections.

Adebayo stated this in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at a meeting with members of the state executive of the party on Saturday.

He was accompanied during his visit by a former Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, as well as the party’s chairman in Ogun, Oyo, Lagos, among others.

The former SDP presidential candidate denounced insinuations of his party, as an appendage of the APC, saying that the party remains committed to the welfare and well-being of all Nigerians.

“Maybe APC has appendicitis, they should go to the hospital to kill it. We are a strong party. We are older than any of the parties available. Our mission is clear: we are not in government with them.

“I led the party in the last election. I’m still standing here. I’m not a minister under Tinubu, all the State Chairman, the National Chairman are intact, National Secretary. So, we are standing on our own.

“The reason people look down on us is because we don’t attack people to tackle issues, because our party is a party of intellect. We are the only party that’s a little to the left. Having been a little to the left since we came in 1989 we remain so.

“The problems of Nigeria can only be found with solutions on the left, which is that chapter two of the Constitution, invest money in education, in housing, in healthcare, good infrastructure, let Nigerians live what chief Obafemi Awolowo called a life more abundant,” he said.

According to him, the SDP was open to genuine entrants but not to people of questionable character.

The chairman of the party in the state, Ola Williams, seized the occasion to welcome genuine new members into the party.

Siminalayi Fubara’s hatchet man Ikenga Ugochinyere backpedals as he voted in support of Emergency Rule in Rivers State on Thursday.

He however gave an excuse saying: “I counseled Fubara to show humility, but he failed to listen.

Politics of stomach infrastructure smelling!