Labour Party State Chairmen Defend INEC Boss, Warn Against Rival Congresses

So, it happened again in Abuja. The 36 elected state chairmen of the Labour Party gathered on Tuesday, and the air was thick with that specific kind of humid, tense atmosphere you only get in these press centers—the smell of stale coffee and printer toner. They weren’t there to play games; they were there to draw a line in the sand, specifically regarding Prof. Joash Amupitan, the man running the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Abdurrahim Chindo, acting as the secretary for the group, stood at the podium and made it pretty clear: they aren’t joining the chorus of people demanding Amupitan’s head. This comes after other parties—specifically the African Democratic Congress—started barking about some old tweet from 2023. They think it shows bias. The LP chairmen, however, seem to think that’s just noise. Or maybe not noise, but at least, not the right way to handle things.

“Nigeria is the only country we have,” Chindo said. He pointed out that if you want to go after an appointee, you should use the actual, formal procedures—not just take to social media with, you know, feelings. It’s a pragmatic take, I guess. They claim they’re fine with his performance so far, though they left the door open to criticize him later if he trips up. It’s a weird spot to be in, honestly, balancing support for an umpire while keeping a wary eye on his impartiality.

But that wasn’t even the main headache they were dealing with. The real issue is this ongoing power struggle. There’s a faction led by Nenadi Usman that apparently wants to run their own ward and state congresses, and the LP chairmen are essentially telling the electoral commission to stay a thousand miles away from that whole mess. They called it “institutional sabotage,” which sounds pretty intense, but for them, it’s about protecting the legitimacy of their own seats. They’ve got the papers, they’ve got the certified copies, and they’re acting like that should be the end of the conversation.

Wait, I should mention—the chairmen were very firm that only a court of law can touch what they’ve already built. They aren’t just saying they’re in charge; they’re insisting that the process they went through was monitored by the commission already. So, if the commission suddenly decides to watch some other faction, that would be a problem.

It’s a messy situation. You have people fighting over party structure while the commission is stuck in the middle, trying to figure out who to listen to. The chairmen are basically putting a warning sign on the front door: don’t move, don’t validate these other people, and definitely don’t let yourselves get pressured into making a mistake. It’s a classic political stalemate, really—everyone is looking at the law, but everyone is also looking at the exit in case things go south.