Factional National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has dismissed speculations that reconciliation talks between his camp and Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, collapsed over alleged financial demands, insisting that money was never discussed during the closed-door meeting.
Abure disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH amid a lingering leadership crisis rocking the opposition party.
The development comes barely one month after Otti declared that the Labour Party remained open to reconciliation with Abure and his loyalists ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Abia governor had made the remark during the inaugural meeting of the party’s National Working Committee held at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, where he attended as an observer.
But speaking with our correspondent, Abure clarified that the recent engagement with Otti was strictly convened to explore reconciliation and chart a path toward unity within the party, but eventually ended in a deadlock over disagreements surrounding the control and structure of the party.
According to him, the talks failed because Otti allegedly insisted that the existing party structure be dissolved before any reconciliation could move forward.
He said, “We need to make it categorically clear that the meeting we had with Governor Otti was purely for reconciliation and how to forge ahead. But that meeting produced no headway because the governor refused to give an inch due to his earlier recalcitrant stand.
“First, to share the positions in the NWC. Secondly, to take his governorship ticket and produce all the state House of Assembly candidates, including all the candidates for House of Representatives and Senate in Abia state.
“Lastly, to produce any other governorship, House of Representatives and senatorial candidates in other states where he might have an interest.
“We further conceded the offices of the National Secretary and other key national offices. But with all these sacrifices from the leadership, the governor declined all the proposals and insisted that all positions in the NWC have already been filled by him, while offering us the Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Trustees.”
Abure also rejected allegations that he demanded financial inducement from the governor as part of the reconciliation process, describing the claims as false and deliberate misinformation.
“We also need to make it very clear that a lot of misconceptions have been spreading, probably deliberately, that the leadership of the Labour Party requested huge sums of money from Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti, to reconcile.
“At no time was the issue of money discussed. Nobody made any financial requests, and nobody offered any money to anyone. We are therefore calling on all party members and supporters to disregard the fake news, whose sources are not too difficult to decipher,” he clarified.
The factional chairman expressed disappointment over the outcome of the reconciliation effort, blaming what he described as Otti’s intransigence for the collapse of the talks.
Abure further stated that his leadership would continue efforts to “recover the party” from what he termed “political buccaneers and merchants” allegedly bent on destabilising the Labour Party.
He also expressed confidence that the lingering leadership dispute would eventually be resolved by the Supreme Court following the appeal filed at the apex court.
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