NLC, Abure-Led NWC Reject New LP Factional Leader Callistus Okafor

The Labour Party is facing intensified internal conflict with the rise of Callistus Okafor as a new factional National Chairman. The emergence of Okafor has drawn sharp criticism from both the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

In recent interviews, National Secretary Umar Farouk and Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, Deputy President of the NLC Political Commission, rejected Okafor’s claim to the leadership position.

While the spotlight has been on the dispute between the Abure-led NWC and the 29-man caretaker committee led by former minister Nenadi Usman, Okafor has seized the moment to assert his position. Speaking at a press conference in Abuja last Friday, Okafor, a former deputy national chairman of the LP, declared himself the legitimate leader of the party. He argued that his takeover was justified by a 2018 consent judgment from the Federal High Court, which he claimed had been disregarded.

According to Okafor, the court ruling originated from a previous leadership dispute involving late LP national chairman Abdulkadir Salam and a faction led by Salisu Mohammed, who had also declared himself the national caretaker chairman.

Okafor contends that the Abure-led NWC exploited a flawed structure to ascend to the national chairmanship, due to non-compliance with the court’s order.

However, Farouk dismissed Okafor’s claims as opportunistic, asserting that Okafor was exploiting the current leadership crisis within the party. Farouk also attributed part of the internal discord to Abia State Governor Alex Otti, stating, “Okafor’s claim to be the legitimate national chairman of the party shouldn’t come as a surprise. It is not new to us. If Governor Otti can wake up one day and decide to illegitimately form a caretaker committee, Tom, Dick, and Harry can equally claim to be the leader of the Labour Party. That is the danger of what they have done.”

Farouk added, “I believe you know the NLC has also created one they call ‘National Transition Committee.’ But in the end, it will be the court that determines the true leaders and legal officers of the party. Until then, Okafor is free to make noise all over the place.”

The NLC camp also dismissed Okafor’s claims, with Prof. Ndubuaku suggesting they were inconsequential. “People can have as many factional chairmen as they want, but the question here is that when you have Peter Obi as the leader of the LP, Otti as the only governor of the party, senators and members of the House of Representatives elected on our platform, House of Assembly members, as well as the statutory members – TUC and NLC – together with us, who will Okafor claim to be working with?” Ndubuaku said.

He further questioned Okafor’s legitimacy, asking, “We are not even talking about the loyalty of virtually all the party stakeholders yet. So, I ask again: Who are the members of Okafor’s faction and what are they bringing to the table? So, I think Okafor just wants to be in the news. He is just trying to get some relevance.”