By Abbas Jimoh & Usman Bello (Benin)
The crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) escalated on Monday when two groups of protesters for and against the embattled National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, clashed at the national headquarters of the party.
Trouble started when the group loyal to Abure attacked protesters from the Edo State chapter of the party who were at the party secretariat to demand Abure’s ouster.
The anti-Abure protesters had stormed the party headquarters in a number of vehicles, holding placards and chanting solidarity songs.
No sooner than some of the protesters stepped out of one of the vehicles, the pro-Abure swooped on the vehicles with sticks and other objects, forcing the drivers to zoom off, while some of the anti-Abure protesters left behind also retaliated while others fled the scene on foot.
A detachment of armed policemen and operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), however, intervened when the pro-Abure protesters started throwing stones into the nearby Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Chapter, in pursuit of some of the fleeing anti-Abure protesters and journalists that were covering the fracas.
Earlier, leaders of the anti-Abure protesters distributed copies of a letter written to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the LP by the Edo State Chairman, Comrade Ogbaloi K.S.E., and Secretary, Comrade Akhere Frederick, notifying the national body of the confirmation of Abure’s suspension from the party.
Meanwhile, the national leadership of the party has dissolved the Edo state executive of the party and inaugurated a 17-man caretaker committee headed by former speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, to oversee the running of the Edo State chapter of the party.
Inaugurating the committee, the Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Ayo Olorunfemi, said the leadership change in the party in the state was due to the expiration of the tenure of the Ogbaloi-led executive council, which ended in April 2024.