From Idu Jude, Abuja
The newly appointed Chairman of the Labour Party National Caretaker Committee (LP-NTC), Senator Nenadi Usman, has called on embattled Barrister Abure-led National Working Committee NWC to join it in rebuilding the Labour Party ahead of the 2027 elections.
Sen. Nenadi, in a statement on Thursday, stated that the time has come for all parties to put aside their differences and for the common progress of the party, stressing that no political party survives under internal crises.
“The legacy I desire to be remembered for is that I met a Labour Party in relative conflict and disunity but left it a united, formidable, and indomitable election-winning party nationwide
“Come, let us build together. There is no victor, no vanquished.”
Sen. Nenadi, however, reminded members that the call was a tall, demanding order, but it is achievable if the party membership submits to the spirit of forgiveness of the wrongs of the past by all sides, reinforces the values of our party’s founding fathers, and bonds diligently as one family on a voyage together into the future.
The statement reads in parts, “The fuel for the ship of this voyage can only be distilled from integrity rebirth, staying firm to the principles of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity to all, irrespective of members’ social status, tribe, religion, and gender, as our party’s motto enshrines.
“On September 4 at Umuahia, the capital of Abia state, no team, group, or divide of our party’s various episodes of conflict was vanquished. Everyone won. Therefore, no group or divide should feel any sense of shame or defeat.
“We won together as one political family by the reality of the law. We escaped together the sword of INEC which would have otherwise taken our beloved party out of its books for having no legally acceptable leadership that meets the requirements of our country’s Electoral Act. At worst, we had a situation that could have left the commission with no alternative but to deregister our party from their portals and exclude us from all elections. That course of action was successfully averted on September 4 at Umuahia.
“This is why I state that there was no vanquished and that everyone who truly bears the name
“Labour Party” in their hearts is a joint victor of our party’s rebirth at Umuahia.
“Consequent upon the above, irrespective of which divide of the various conflicts of the past you once belonged, I do not ask you to sheathe your swords. I implore you to get rid of them.
“Do so by melting them into sickles and ploughshares of peace for harvests of progress and the ultimate presidential victory of our party in 2027.
“If I may remind you, February 2027 is only 30 months away from today. In politics, that is somewhat like just 30 days away, considering the choppy, challenging waters our Labour Party ship, as an opposition party, must sail through and the amount of work that needs to be done within this framework of time.
“Those who accept our committee’s olive branch of peace and work with us for our party’s rapid progress shall find my committee’s embrace. “Those who adamantly maintain a path that retards progress by promoting division, conflict, collision, and chaos shall have the best we can offer to saboteurs and prayers.
“I urge you to remember this eternal battle-front truth. No matter how long it takes, those who keep the faith, reason together, and fight together from the trenches as a band of brothers and soldiers of freedom are bound to win together as victors of liberty.
“To this end, my doors are open to everyone who means well for our party.
Come forward and let us reason together on my committee’s supreme mandate. This is the mandate to deliver to our party, in about three months, exemplary unifying state congresses nationwide.
“This will climax in a transparent, all-inclusive national convention that will produce the next substantive NEC and NWC of our party and, subsequently, the next leadership of our great country.”
