‘Our Party Has Witnessed Internal Frictions And Glitches’ — LP Reps Reject Date For National Convention

The Labour party (LP) House of Representatives caucus has rejected the March 27th proposed date for the opposition party’s National Convention, calling for a postponement.

Naloaded News reports that the LP leadership had initially fixed the convention to take place on March 29 but later changed it to March 27. The party’s leadership said the date was changed because the initial day falls on Good Friday, a significant date for the Christian faith worldwide.

But in a statement to journalists, the leader of the LP caucus in the lower legislative chambers, Afam Ogene, called for the postponement of the national convention for proper planning.

He stated that the party needs to make proper and more comprehensive consultations and make efforts to bring every stakeholder on board.

According to him, the party should have started with ward congresses before jumping to a national convention.

The statement read: “The national convention of any national political party is such an important event that ought not to be conducted without proper planning or in a hurry.

“While we acknowledge that the various challenges currently being thrown at the national leadership may have been responsible for the seemingly sloppy organization of the proposed convention, we hasten to add that the fact that many stakeholders, including my colleagues in parliament, were not carried along in the whole process leaves resentment trailing the process.

While we agree that the 29th, as earlier scheduled, is not appropriate for the reasons given, we also note that the 27th is not any better. Indeed, many have wondered why a national convention would seem more preferable, as against the bottom-up approach of beginning congresses from the wards.

In fact, even more fundamental is the health and sustainability of our dear party. The party has, for some time now, witnessed internal friction and glitches, just like every other political party in the nation. So, we in the House of Representatives, as the direct representatives of the people, are of the view that the party needs some more time to smooth the rough edges in the party leadership system and operational mechanism before the next convention.

So, for these reasons, we respectfully call for the postponement of the national convention and the immediate activation of a consultation mechanism that would inject a healing and reinvigorating tonic in the party for a more successful and sustainable future, for the overall good of our teeming supporters and Nigeria in general.”