By Jethro Ibileke
The national chairman of Labour Party (LP), Barrister Julius Abure, has been arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Police, Zone 5 headquarters in Benin City, Edo State.
His arrest is coming less than 24 hours after the state chairmen of the 36 states and Abuja passed a vote of confidence on him.
The Zone PRO, Tijani Momoh, who confirmed the arrest, said his arrest was in connection to a petition against him from the office of the Inspector-General of Police.
“Yes, the Labour Party national chairman is here and it has to do with a petition that was referred to this office from the Inspector-General of Police.
“It was referred to Zone 5 from the IG’s office, he is with us but I cannot give the contents of the petition right now.”
When asked if Abure was being detained or was just to take a statement, Momoh said: “I don’t know for now.”
It would be recalled that Abure has been having running battles with some members of the party in the state over allegations of substituting candidates in the 2023 general election without the consent of the affected aspirants, an allegation he had denied.
It was gathered that the arrest may not be unconnected with the factional crisis rocking the party, as a factional national youth leader was recently brutalized by some suspected members of the party who did a video of themselves while the official and another person were being brutalized, an action that led to the Apapa faction of the party to petition the police for attempted murder.