A ten-man panel of officers from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Assistant Director EPM, Omoregie Uhunmhangho, have carried out a verification exercise at the National Secretariat of the Labour Party.
The exercise which was carried out at the National Secretariat Utako had present for verification, the executive members of the party led by its National Chairman, Barr. Julius Abure.
The leader of three-man team, Uhunmhangho said the exercise was annual to carry out physical authentication of the party Secretariat, its executives and but it has failed to do similar exercise in the past three years due to crowded activities at the commission.
His words: “What we are doing now is just to verify that you have the people you say you have. We want to see them in person.”
He continued that “the document that we want, I can gladly say that you have done well already, so this verification exercise is not a witch hunt,” he assured the leadership of the party that, the exercise was “just to confirm that you are complying with the electoral act and the constitution.”
The EPM assistant Director, said the exercise “is an annual thing but we have not done it in like three years because INEC has a tight schedule. We discover that we have to do it in 2023/2024 before political parties take us to court.”
Responding to the team in the presence of some of the 36 state Chairmen of the party present alongside the National Executives of the Party, National Chairman of the Party, Comrade Julius Abure said he is glad the commission has seen that the national leaders of the party are on ground.
His words: “I welcome the INEC officials who are here for their ritual which is their statutory responsibility to monitor political party to ensure they are alive.
“Am happy, they (INEC) have seen that we are solidly on ground, I am sure if we survived the 2019 screening, that of 2023 will be a work over for us” because we have recorded substantial growth.
“Over the past few years, Nigeria has been yearning for alternatives and a third force in the political space today, without tears on our cheek, I want to say that we are present in the Nigerian politics space as a veritable force to reckon with.
“In 2019, we had only one elected member after the general election and we survived the scrutiny of the verification exercise, why other political parties were deregistered, Labour Party was among the 18 political parties that survived.
“Today, we have one governor; we have 6 senators in our kitty after the court took two from us.
“We are participating in the rerun in Plateau and Lagos and several other places, these are places where Labour Party is strong.
“I am sure after the 3rd of February bye election, Labour Party would have more senators in her kitty across the country. We have house of assembly members.
“I can boldly state that the Labour Party has come of age and is the darling party of the youth. The youth and women who are most vulnerable to the exploitative party in Nigeria are in Labour Party,
“Therefore I believe the Labour Party would come out stronger and better. Am sure that INEC is proud of us and Am sure that moving forward we are going to do better."