Obiora Ifoh, National Publicity Secretary of the Abure faction, said the secretariat, “forcefully” taken over earlier in the day, had been recovered.
Tensions escalated in the Labour Party on Tuesday night as the Julius Abure-led faction announced it had reclaimed the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, just a day after Senator Nenadi Usman’s caretaker committee took control.
Obiora Ifoh, National Publicity Secretary of the Abure faction, said the secretariat, “forcefully” taken over earlier in the day, had been recovered.
Photographs shared by the faction showed banners and billboards featuring Usman being removed.
“The Julius Abure-led leadership of the Labour Party has recovered the party’s national secretariat, which was illegally occupied by the Abia state government and Nenadi Usman’s group earlier today,” the statement read.
The faction described Usman’s takeover as illegal and promised to take legal action, adding that losses resulting from the invasion would be inventoried.
“The party will take inventory of the losses and outright theft observed during the illegal invasion, after which formal charges will be pressed,” Ifoh said.
He warned against further disruption of party activities, stressing that any leadership disputes should await court decisions.
Normal operations at the secretariat were scheduled to resume on Wednesday.
Reacting to the development, Usman, through her Senior Special Adviser on Media, Ken Asogwa, criticised the night-time takeover as a defiance of an existing court ruling.
“There is a court judgment stating Abure has ceased to be the national chairman of the party. Now, someone has gone there to take the law into his own hands. Have we gone bananas in this country?” she asked.
Usman insisted her faction’s takeover was lawful and conducted openly, and said she expected police to prevent illegal actions.
The takeover comes a day after Usman, alongside Abia State Deputy Governor Ikechukwu Emetu, assumed control of the party’s Utako headquarters under heavy police presence, replacing banners bearing Abure’s image with her own.
Last month, a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that Abure’s tenure as National Chairman had ended and directed INEC to recognise Usman’s caretaker committee pending a national convention.
Despite filing an appeal, Abure has vowed to resist what he describes as an unlawful takeover.
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