Obi, Otti ignore Abure, go ahead with stakeholders’ meeting

Arambabi urges IGP to probe duo
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, and Governor Alex Otti of Abia State are going ahead with the scheduled stakeholders’ meeting, despite dissent from the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure.

Plans for the convergence were disclosed by Obi’s media team, who stated that it would also involve resolving the crisis rocking the party.

But Abayomi Arabambi, who claimed to be the party’s national publicity secretary, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to investigate Obi and Otti for alleged impersonation and felony.

Speaking to newsmen yesterday, the spokesman of Obi’s media team, Dr Tanko Yunusa, said: “The party cannot be burning, and we pretend that all is well. We will tell ourselves the home truth and prepare to resolve the crisis.”

The development came after Obi announced his support for the stakeholders’ meeting summoned by Otti.

Abure had rebuffed the call for the meeting, telling Otti to focus on governance and stop interfering in the party’s affairs.

Obi’s media team referred to the meeting as a welcome development, emphasising that it would be the ideal place to address the party’s leadership crisis.

“For a long period, we have been seeking solutions to our internal problems. My principal has also waded into discussion with the LP, Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in an attempt to find a solution to the crisis.

“The issue is about finding a solution to the problem. We need everybody on the ground. Nobody should feel superior to others. We need to look at ourselves and start telling the bitter truth with the ultimate aim of finding a solution to the matter. It is in the interest of everybody. As stakeholders, we are being summoned to state our cases openly. That is a solution-driven idea,” Obi shared.

THE meeting being convened by Otti, scheduled for September 4 at the Government House in Umuahia, according to insider sources, was meant to be decisive for the party  to correct many anomalies from the tenure of NWC members, which the proponents of the meeting, said had expired, to the allegations of corruption in the party.

It will have Obi, his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) in attendance.

However, according to Arabambi, what Obi and Otti are planning to convene is an illegal meeting of LP’s extended stakeholders/National Executive Council (NEC), falsely representing themselves as National Chairman and National Secretary.

He asserted that the offices of National Chairman and National Secretary were not vacant and that Obi and Otti’s actions constitute criminal impersonation, which is punishable under Section 484 of the Criminal Code.

He gave Obi and Otti a 72-hour ultimatum to put the meeting on hold, failure for which a formal petition would be written to the IGP and the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) for fraud, impersonation and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.