It’s Dangerous For NDC To Hand Over Elective Positions To Obi And His Followers – Abure Warns Dickson

The factional National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure has advised Senator Seriake Dickson, founder of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), to be careful in his political dealings with former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi and his supporters.

Naija News reports that Abure, in a statement he personally signed on Monday, said Dickson’s decision to avoid fully handing over party positions to Peter Obi’s supporters was wise, adding that it could help prevent internal control struggles that have affected other political parties in the past.

He said the Labour Party went through serious internal issues after the 2022 and 2023 elections.

According to him, Obi, along with Abia State governor Alex Otti and many of their supporters who got election tickets under the party, later became involved in disputes over the leadership and direction of the party instead of helping to build it.

Abure explained that many candidates were given party tickets with little or no cost during the election period, with the hope that they would strengthen the party after winning office.

He said the expectation was not met as some of them later became involved in internal conflicts over control of the party structure from the ward level to the national level.

He added that political leaders must avoid repeating such situations, warning that full control of party positions should not be handed to one group alone.

Abure said balance is needed so that every political structure has fair representation and stability.

The Labour Party chairman also said the situation in his party served as a lesson for other political leaders. He pointed to the experience of Dickson and others in the NDC as an example of people learning from past political challenges in other parties.

He said: “They say, history usually repeats itself. Senator Dickson and Co have seen their trajectory and learnt from what happened to us, that a lot of them after they have won and now in government turned round and were struggling with the leadership of the party. So, having leant from that, that is probably why the NDC leadership are collecting what they ought to collect upfront so that they can have the resources to manage the party.

“I want to say that Obi and his followers are ingrates who will never remember the sacrifices you made for them. It is even dangerous for the leadership of the NDC to wholly hand over the elective positions to Obi and his followers. We did it in 2022/23, immediately they saw that Obi was interested in the leadership of the party, all those elected under the platform of the party simply followed Obi, forgetting all the sacrifices and suffering we made for them. They went for the structures of the party, from the ward to the national to be dissolved.

“Therefore for strategic and political reasons, it is very good for Seriake Dickson not to have given Obi supporters all they needed in the NDC. He needed to bring his own people so that when the chips are down, he will also have people that will speak and defend him.

“All those elected under the party, Obi took them to fight the leadership of the party. So why will Seriake Dickson and Co allow Obi to produce all the elected officers or meet all the interests of Obi, it must be balanced. They trooped into NDC with Obi hoping to occupy every space like they did in Labour Party. No leader of any political party seeing what Obi did to Labour Party, along with his followers will make that mistake again.”