Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) national transition committee, on Tuesday, stormed the headquarters of the Labour Party in Abuja, demanding the immediate resignation of the party National Chairman, Julius Abure.
The Acting Chairman of the transition committee, Aduwaheed Omar, led members of the Labour union to the secretariat, chanting solidarity songs and calling for the resignation of Abure on grounds that his tenure as the chairman of the party had expired.
It is reported that when the officials arrived at the party’s headquarters, the gates were immediately shut by security officials.
However, in an attempt to force their way into the premises, the police fired teargas to dispatch the protesters.
Protesters were later heard shouting endlessly at the security men to “open the gate”.
The Labour Party has been enmeshed in leadership crisis, in the last one year.
Speaking of the crisis that engulfed the party,its presidential candidate Peter Obi said, the contrived crisis in the Labour Party was part of a distractive strategy, which neither he nor his supporters were willing to fall for.
Obi said, “Our engagement is about Nigeria, they are trying to change our focus. What we want to do is not about Labour Party; it is about what the Obidients wants to do about Nigeria.
“We are thinking about water, we are thinking about power, we are thinking about employment, thinking about security. That should be our focus.
“The other matter we will deal with. We were somewhere, we didn’t start with Labour.
“I’m a Christian. Jesus said, When you go into a city, try to change them, live with them, fast with them. in the end, you can’t, come out and even wash the sand that is on your shoes.
“He didn’t say go there and die with them. I tell you, I’m making spirited efforts to change them (LP), but I’m not going to die with them.
“That will not stop what we set out to do. We will try to change them (LP), if we can’t, we will leave them; we will not die with them.”
