The Apapa-led Executives of the Labour Party may have suffered a severe blow as a three-man panel of officers from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Assistant Director EPM, Omoregie Uhunmhangho, carried out an authentication exercise at the National Secretariat of the Labour Party.
Present for the screening exercise at the National Secretariat Utako were the executive members of the party led by its National Chairman, Barr. Julius Abure; the Apapa group was absent. All through the process that lasted over three hours.
The leader of the three-man team, Uhunmhangho, said the exercise was annual to carry out physical authentication of the party secretariat and its executives, but it has failed to do a similar exercise in the past three years due to crowded activities at the commission.
His words: “What we are doing now is just to verify that you have the people you say you have. We want to see them in person.”
He continued, “The document that we want, I can gladly say that you have provided 80% of them already, so this verification exercise is not a witch hunt.”
He assured the leadership of the party that the exercise was “just to confirm that you are complying with the electoral act and the constitution.”
The EPM assistant director said the exercise was “an annual thin, but we have not done it in like three years because INEC has a tight schedule
“We discover that we have to do it in 2023/2024 before political parties take us to court.”
Responding to the team in the presence of some of the 36 state chairmen of the party present alongside the national executives of the party, the national chairman of the party, Comrade Julius Abure, said he is glad the commission has seen that the national leaders of the party are on the ground.
His words: “I welcome the INEC officials who are here for their ritual, which is their statutory responsibility to monitor political parties to ensure they are alive.
“I am happy; they (INEC) have seen that we are solidly on ground. I am sure if we survive the 2019 screening, that of 2023 will be a workover for us,” because we have recorded substantial growth.
“Over the past few years, Nigeria has been yearning for alternatives and is a third force in the political space today. Without tears on our cheeks, I want to say that we are present in the Nigerian political space as a veritable force to be reckoned with.
“In 2019, we had only one elected member after the general election, and we survived the scrutiny of the verification exercise. That is why other political parties were deregistered; the Labour Party was among the 18 political parties that survived
“Today, we have one governor; we have six senators in our kitty after the court took two from us, we have
“We are participating in the rerun in Plateau and Lagos and several other places; these are places where the Labour Party is strong.
“I am sure after the 10th of December, the Labour Party will have more senators in her kitty across the country. We have a house of assembly members.
“I can boldly state that the Labour Party has come of age and is the darling party of the youth. The youth and women who are most vulnerable to the exploitative party in Nigeria are in the Labour Party.
“Therefore, I believe the Labour Party would come out stronger and better. I am sure that INEC is proud of us, and I am sure that moving forward, we are going to do better.
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