Chuks Okocha in Abuja 

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has frowned against instigation of parallel structures by some party leaders, warning that such anti party activities must surely attract grave consequences.

The national chairman also revealed that elected members of the Labour Party have not lived up to their financial obligations to the party since assumption of office nearly two years ago.

Abure, while speaking at a town hall meeting organised by the Lagos State chapter of the party, also appealed to the Obidient Family members to work towards owning the party by registering with the party and be qualified for the coming congresses in June and July 2025.

He said, “We are willing and ready to absorb all the Obidients into the Labour Party. All you need to do is to go to your ward as Obidient and register. The party has only one structure, all other ones are counterfeit. A party cannot have two conflicting structures, a party can only have one structure and I advise, if you do not want to be left out of the scheme of things, find your way into the main structure. Those who are doing parallel structure, candidate structure will lose out at the end of the day.”

On the relationship between the Labour Party elected members and the party, Abure said, “It is a fact that they don’t respect the party, it is a fact that they don’t make contributions to the party. As I speak with you today, we have not received one kobo at the national, from those we elected to the national Assembly. 

“The responsibility of running this party is still with the leadership of the party. As of today, we have six Senators, about 30 Reps members and numerous House of Assembly members, but it will shock you to know that none of these lawmakers have contributed a dime to the party since their election in 2023. 

“Let them go and ask other parties, it is those elected under their platform that fund the party. Today, most of them want to have control over their local government and for us to hand over their constituencies to them, yet they are not ready to work or partner with the party. Is it fair?.”

The national chairman also promised to look into the grievances within the Lagos State party faithfuls. He said, “I want to appeal to our members in Lagos State who may have one grievance or the other arising from the imperfection witnessed in 2023 general election to keep their grievances aside. We cannot continue to dwell in the past. Those who did not get the party ticket in 2023 election may have the opportunity to do so in 2027. And for some of you who have special cases, I plead with you to come and present the matter to the leadership of the party, instead of fighting ourselves in the social media. As long as I am the National Chairman,  those with genuine cases will be given special attention in the 2027 general election,” he said.

The town hall meeting which witnessed defection of top political personalities in the state into the Labour Party, was also attended by party stakeholders including national and state lawmakers, ward, local government and state executives and some members of the National Working Committee.

 The Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2023 governorship election,  Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour also attended. 

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