**Insists there is no faction as its leaders can be verified with INEC
Labour Party Chairmen of three States of Kogi, Anambra and FCT have addressed a Press Conference at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Thursday disowned the Okafor led group.
The chairmen were reacting to some social media reports that the group held a convention on Wednesday where they elected their Presidential candidate.
The Kogi State Chairman of the Party Ahmed Abu while addressing the media said,
“We are here to make some clarification and to set the record straight. We are angered by the fake news being circulated on the social media by Mr. Calistus Okafor who is claiming to be the national chairman of the party. He is unknown to the party. The authentic National chairman of the party remains Barrister Julius Abure
“We are aware of the fact that Okafor is being sponsored by one of the political parties that have ruined this country that is afraid of the rising profile of the Labour Party after the conduct of the last primary which ushered in Peter obi as the party’s Presidential candidate in the forthcoming 2023 general election.
He said the general public can very on INEC website at www.inecnigeria.org adding that it is not in doubt as to whom the authentic chairman of the party is.
The party’s chairman for FCT, Emeka Peters said
“It is not unusual that when a party is growing, some unhealthy fellows will start trying to gain cheap popularity by causing this type of issues.
According to him, in Minna at the National executive council meeting of the party the said Okafor was suspended for anti patty. “At Akwanga when we held our special and National Convention, he was also suspended.
“By all standards he is not a member of Labour Party and I don’t know where he is coming from. You have to be a member of the party before you claim to be a faction. There is no faction in Labour Party.”
State chairman of Anambra Labour Party Honorable Eme Ugochukwu Emmanuel said Okafor is from his State but his name is not in the Labour Party’s register.
“They are not members of Labour Party. We are not going to join issues with him, we are only urging our supporters, the members of the public, Nigerians who are now interested in the party to disregard whatever they are doing.
“We don’t have any other chairman other than Barrister Julius Abure. We have conducted our National Convention and Presidential primaries in Asaba where we elected Peter Obi as the authentic Presidential candidate of our party. “They are hungry people looking for whom to settle them.
NCFRONT Spokesperson Dr Yunusa Tanko had earlier described the group as anti democratic forces working towards causing disharmony in their chosen political party, the labour party, selected to lead our collective struggle.
He said one Mr Calistus Okafor has been parading himself and laying claim to the leadership of the Labour Party.
“In other to set the records straight and after careful investigation, the said Mr Calistus Okafor is no longer a member of the labour party.
“In 2018 Mr Calistus Okafor was suspended for anti party activities and was expelled from the party in 2019 for conducting an illegal and unconstitutional convention which was disregarded by INEC in 2017.
“The puported convention produced one Mr Mike Omotosho who died a couple of days ago to challenge the leadership of Alhaji AA Salam who we also lost to the cold hands of death last year. Alhaji AA Salam survived the onslaught where some of the assailant reconciled with Alhaji AA Salam and were reabsorbed into the party in the spirit of reconciliation.
“But Mr Calistus Okafor continued in his rebellion ways,which earned him the final exit from the party in 2019.
Mr Calistus Okafor confirmed this in a text message sent to one of our highly placed leader in the labour party. He said, and I quote ” I don’t have any intention to come back to the labour party no matter what, but they don’t understand because they feel threatened by my person ” .
“So he is no longer a member of the party . The said case that he seek to be consolidated with, was a case filed by the NLC which has long been settled by the NLC and the party.
“As we speak, the political commission of the NLC and TUC are fully incorporated into the labour party in the spirit of resqueing the country from the quagmire we find ourselves.
Consequently he decribed his claims as not having any basis or merit
“He is just seeking for attention and being used as an agent of destruction therefore, should be disregarded. We have also noticed that both APC and PDP are trying to cash in on this misleading individual.
“We urge all well meaning Nigerians to ignore this agent of undemocratic force with the strongest condemnation against the interest of the Nigerian state.
“We re affirm that Barr Julius Abure is the National Chairman of the labour party with Peter Obi as the Presidential candidate as elected in Asaba Delta State, observed by INEC officials on the 30th of May 2022.”