- Nenadi Usman faction reject protests
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The Julius Abure led faction of the Labour Party (LP) on Wednesday made good its threats to protest against the exclusion of its candidates for the forthcoming August 16 bye- elections in parts of the country.
The protesters made up of Civil Society Organizations in alongside the excluded candidates and some other sympathizers of the faction staged the protest to demand their inclusion in the polls.
Meanwhile, the faction of the party led by Sen. Nenadi Usman had earlier distanced itself from the protest, saying anybody protesting in the name of the Labour Party is an imposter.
Ken Asoqwa, Senior Special Assistant Media to Sen. Usman on Tuesday has said the faction did not sanction the protest.
“The public is hereby put on notice that anyone promoting or participating in this protest is doing so without the consent of the Labour Party and should be seen as an impostor”.
However, the protesters were defiant as they came in several buses stormed the National Headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as early as 11:00am to press home their demands despite the early morning rain.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as: “INEC, who is using you against LP,” “Mahmood stop destroying democracy in Nigeria”, “Tell INEC to obey court orders”, among others.
Addressing the protesters, the Labour Party Deputy National Youth Leader, Dr. Barry Avotu-Johnson said, “We are here to demand that the National Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu should respect the Court Order recognizing Barr. Julius Abure as National Chairman of our great party.
“We are also demanding that he uploads the names of our validly nominated candidates for the forth coming bye-elections.
“This is not asking for too much. Justice and the respect for the rule of law which is the hallmark of democracy all over the world, Nigeria shouldn’t be an exception.”
Similarly, the Chairman of the party in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Peter Ugwu said they were at the Secretariat of INEC to demand their right.
“We in the FCT conducted primaries and elected candidates for this election. Sadly, while the names of candidates of other political parties have been uploaded on the INEC portal, ours have not. INEC should correct this anomaly by doing the needful.”
On his part, Spokesperson for the CSOs, Mr. Peter Piper said, “This is about democracy and the rule of law. An injury to one is an injury to all.”
Responding, INEC National Commissioner, Abdulahi Zuru who represented the Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu promised that the message of the protesters will be communicated to the leadership of the commission.
