•Labour Party National Chairman Julius Abure
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 party’s National Chairman, 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 to face the law for the same offence.
Addressing a news conference yesterday in Abuja, LP’s Acting Chairman of the caretaker committee, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku urged the AGF to bring the “suspects to court within seven days, as directed by the Inspector General of Police.”
He said: “The Labour Party 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 Caretaker 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 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 their claim in “entirety is fallacious, misleading and a calculated attempt to malign the image of 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 faith, 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 advise 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.”
