The Labour Party said Tuesday it will not field any candidate for the 2019 general elections as the party could not hold an all-inclusive National Convention as directed by the court.
Mrs. Ebere Ifendu, National Publicity Secretary of the party, stated this at a news conference in Abuja, adding that the all-inclusive national convention involving all parties was necessary as directed by an Abuja Federal Court.
“On October 2, 2018, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had written to the party to comply with the order of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to conduct an all-inclusive National Convention.
“An all-inclusive National Convention that will involve all parties covered by the terms of settlement filled on March 14, 2018,” she said.
Mrs Ifendu also noted that such all-inclusive National Convention involving the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, among other partners of the party, was yet to hold.
According to her, the former National Chairman of the party, Abdulkadir Salam, had on October 9, told the world that he was holding the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of the party.
“Article 13, (2) A, explicitly spells out the composition of the Party’s National Executive Council (NEC) Members, among the persons on the list are presidents and General Secretaries of NLC and TUC.
“None of these constitutional members of the organ were in attendance nor represented. This clearly shows that the purported NEC meeting has nothing to do with Labour Party whatever,” she added.
She also noted that the tenure of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party ended on October 10, saying Labour Party didn’t have any NWC working committee in place.
