Ayo Olorunfemi, the Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), criticized Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Party in the 2023 elections, and Governor Alex Otti for the expanded stakeholders meeting convened in Umuahia.

In his reaction, Olorunfemi said the meeting, where former Minister of Finance Nenadi Usman was announced as chairperson of a caretaker committee, only deepened the cracks in the party. He further described the meeting as unconstitutional.

He made this known in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, stating that the meeting lacked legal standing.

He said: “The meeting is just a drama, or at best, I can describe it as a mock exam. The word ‘stakeholder’ cannot be found in the party’s constitution.

“What you will find in the constitution are organs of the party, and no organ empowers any governor to convene meetings, not even in his ward. The chairperson at the ward level is responsible for such actions.”

He expressed disappointment that the meeting did not focus on finding solutions to the challenges facing the party but rather worsened the situation by announcing leadership changes without following proper procedure.

According to Olorunfemi, the act of bypassing the established party structure is a clear violation of the Labour Party’s constitution.

“They did not recommend any solutions but instead created more problems. If they were true leaders, they would have approached the conflict in a way that united the party rather than further dividing it,” he said.

When asked if the decision to announce a new leader exacerbated the issues in the party, Olorunfemi agreed, saying it exposed those working behind the scenes to destabilize the Labour Party.

He criticized the role of Governor Alex Otti in calling the meeting, stating that only the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) has the power to make such decisions.

He said: “Assuming, without conceding, that the tenure of our National Working Committee (NWC) has ended, it is not within Governor Otti’s rights to summon a meeting.

“Only the NEC can do that, and even if there was an expired tenure, it must still follow legal processes.”