2 months ago
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The Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party has accused the party’s former Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, of betrayal after the significant sacrifices made for them during the 2023 general elections.
Speaking through the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, at a press conference held at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, Abure expressed disappointment over how the Labour Party went to great lengths to support leaders like Obi and Otti, only to now be sidelined.
He emphasized that the Labour Party bent over backwards to accommodate some of these leaders when they were denied tickets in their previous political parties.
According to him, many of these individuals, who are now in key political positions, were once pleading for support from the Labour Party.
Ifoh pointed out that some couldn’t even afford the nomination forms, yet the Labour Party leadership worked tirelessly to promote them, canvassing votes across the country.
Ifoh said, “Some couldn’t even afford to pay for the nomination forms. The LP leadership went to the trenches with our Presidential Candidate, cascading through the nooks and crannies of Nigeria canvassing for votes.
“We went through the entire judicial hurdles, dared the principalities and powers. We were haunted, maligned and in some cases chased around by agents of the state because of our unflinching commitment and uncompromised standing with our Presidential candidate.
“The same LP leadership stood by our then governorship candidate in Abia through thick and thin, snubbing all sorts of pressures, weathering the political and judicial storms to ensure that victory was achieved.
“Today, these leaders are now dancing ‘Gwo gwo gwo ngwo’ with us. What a shame, what a betrayal.
“Every Nigerian alive today knows the role INEC played in the 2023 general election and how the electoral will of the people were dashed. It amazes us that those who suffered from this INEC’s ineptitude in 2023, are now joining forces with the Commission against the Party leadership.
“For these leaders, there is no qualms to leverage on the INEC’s standpoint of illegality to attempt to seize the leadership of the party.
“We sincerely want to advise these our leaders that INEC is and can never be the model on which to launch their annexation agenda. The 2023 saga is still fresh.
“In one breath, we demonised INEC, in another second, you are fraternizing with them. Is it not paradoxical that some of these leaders who were victims of INEC’s dereliction and mismanagement of the 2023 general election are now the ones quoting INEC, and joining forces with it, just to victimize the leadership of the Labour Party.
“Is it not seemingly absurd that the INEC you are embracing today and welcoming with open arms is the same INEC, which betrayed us during the last election. I ask, where was this loyalty when INEC failed to protect the will of the people in 2023?
“Let us not be fooled, my friends. INEC has not changed, and come 2027, they will once again serve you the portage with the same dish.
“In as much as we are not saying that Abure or his executive members must remain in office ad-infinitum, however we would like to make it abundantly clear that this current National Working Committee is a product of a valid convention.
“It will take another convention in 2028 to enthrone a new executive. It is even surprising that some of the dramatis-personae who played key role in the success of the convention are now the ones leading the vanguard to exterminate the product of the convention.”
