Senator Ned Imasuen, the Labour Party (LP) representative for Edo South in the National Assembly, has voiced his support for the Supreme Court’s decision to remove Barrister Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party. However, he also expressed deep concerns regarding the party’s future trajectory following the prolonged leadership crisis.
Speaking during a media interaction with members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Benin City, Senator Imasuen, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, stated that Abure’s leadership had been detrimental to the party’s interests.
“Sincerely, I welcome the Supreme Court judgment that sacked Barrister Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Labour Party in Nigeria. A lot has gone on in the Labour Party, and it is very unfortunate. So, Abure, who was the chairman at the time, in my opinion, really didn’t have the Labour Party at heart because it became a personal thing.” Senator Imasuen declared.
He further elaborated on his disappointment with the former chairman’s approach, alleging that Abure treated the party as a personal entity, prioritizing internal conflicts over unity and preservation. “It became something that didn’t really matter to them, and it was like, let’s fight and tear the party into pieces instead of preserving it. That sort of thing was not what I expected from someone who led the party at the time. And so he has been dragging the party in and out of court, and now that the Supreme Court has finally sealed it, so be it. It’s a welcome development,” he added.
Despite welcoming the judgment, Senator Imasuen voiced apprehension about the long-term consequences for the Labour Party, questioning its ability to recover from the internal strife. “But the question for me and for all of us, now, is where do we go from here? Someone spoke with me on the matter early this morning, and I said, I just hope that it’s not a little too late for what has just come up because the Labour Party is almost decimated,” he lamented.
“Most of the members have gone. Will this judgment bring them back? I don’t know. Will it energize those who are there now? , again, I don’t know.”
In addition to commenting on the Labour Party’s situation, Senator Imasuen revealed the workload of his committee. He stated that the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions has received approximately 300 petitions since the commencement of the 10th National Assembly, with around 20 already addressed and others nearing completion.
“My committee has attended to a variety of petitions since the inception of the 10th National Assembly,” Imasuen stated.
“The petitions are those received from individual senators or those addressed to the Senate President. Such petitions are about oil spillage in the Niger Delta, whether it’s somebody that has been rusticated from the university or all manners of complaints; petitions come to my table.” he concluded.
