LP group to online medium: Retract defamatory report against Usman 

Members of the Labour Party (LP), under the aegis of the Core Social Democrat (CSD) in the South South Tuesday asked the Sahara Reporters to retract a defamatory report against former Minister of Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman.

The leader of CSD in the region and a legal practitioner, Eric Ifere, stated this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.

 He demanded a public apology from the online platform. 

Sahara Reporters in the story published on September 6, 2024 alleged that the ex-minister who was appointed to lead the LP CTC, “is currently being prosecuted in various courts for alleged financial fraud.”

Senator Usman was appointed to lead the 29-member Caretaker Committee (CTC) of the Labour Party on September 4 during an extended stakeholders’ meeting held in Umuahia in Abia state.

The caretaker committee is to rescue the party from its current leadership crisis and organise a convention where a new leadership of the party would emerge from the ward to the national stage within 90 days. 

The online media said: “It had also been reported that Senator Usman returned N140million out of the N2.5 billion allegedly received from the office of the former National Security Adviser ahead of the 2015 presidential elections.

“In addition, the former senator, who served as the Director of Finance for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Organisation, surrendered two of her houses to the federal government as a condition for her release from the custody of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).”

But, Ifere, while reacting further said it is crucial to underline the unfairness of the situation. 

The statement reads: “We, the Core Social Democrat members of the Labour Party of Nigeria in the South-south, have noticed the malicious lies perpetrated against our newly appointed chairman of the caretaker committee of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Esther Usman. “