The crisis rocking Imo State chapter of the Labour Party is taking another dimension with the leaders spoiling for war.
Crisis crept into the party moments the Presidential/National Assembly Elections ended with the party working committee dissolved to bring in a caretaker committee.
According to reports, orders and counter orders from different quarters became the lot of the party that just got the Senate seat of Owerri Zone and that of Owerri Federal Constituency.
Apart from the spokesperson of the party issuing a disclaimer saying that the removed chairman Ambrose Onyekwere was on his own, he disclosed that that the SWC of the party remains intact and not dissolved.
The situation in Imo Labour Party is gradually taking the shape of that of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, in the state which has seen two big wigs struggling for soul and body of the party that caused them dearly in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly Election.
The Labour Party in Imo may soon hit the rock if a lasting peace is not found soon as many interest groups in the party are already jostling for war ahead of the Imo 2024 Guber election primaries later this year,
Recall that Trumpeta in its Friday March 10, 2023 edition x-rayed the bigwigs in the party who have already showed interest in the party’s Guber ticket analyzing how they may work against each other.
Although the party’s state Publicity Secretary, Comrade Alvan A Opara in a release tried to douse the tension but it’s yet to be seen how the various interest groups would be satisfied going into the party’s Guber primary to avoid total disintegration.
“Imo State Working Committee of our Labour party, a few days ago had its attention drawn to a very embarrassing and shocking news that it has been dissolved.
That information to say the least was illustrative of the proverbial bolt from the blues, and just like a ghost apparition which appears and disappears, we are still hard put trying to figure out the foundation of that piece of news.
From every indication it appears the whole thing was a mere prank, because days after it filtered into the public domain the authenticity and genuineness of the letter of dissolution is yet to be ascertained.
Not only was the said letter not routed appropriately as due process and regulations of our great party spelt out, there has not been any word from the national leadership of our great party to the effect that truly the letter being bandied about came from it, amid the widespread rejection of the purported new caretaker committee by the whole gamut of our great party.
The whole unseemly episode has been further made worse by the fact that the circumstances surrounding the whole farcical drama smacks of dubiety, lack of transparency and the circumventing of established rules of internal engagements within the party. Due to these questionable loopholes , it’s not difficult to surmise that the actions emanating therefore cannot survive in the Labour Party which not only prides itself as a model of due process, accountability and transparency, but is also generally perceived as the bastion of democratic and constitutional principles and provisions.
It goes therefore that the claims of dissolution of the subsisting SWC is completely at variance with the ideology and practices of our great party. It’s antithetical to the our mantra of doing things strictly on the basis of law and order.
We make bold to say that given the venerable status of our great party in the country presently due to its avowed declaration change the way things are done here, it will be unimaginable for any official or organ to resort of LP to walking the paths of the old order synonymous with the other parties, which made the people to abandon them to embrace the labour party.
As the highest organ of the party in the state due process and constitutionalism provides that all correspondences are supposed to come to our table for action or reaction. We are very much aware that the national officers and leaders of the party know this procedure and process too well and as such can’t indulge in actions outside the books, thus our insistence that what is going on is mere hearsay, and resolve not to succumb to cooked up stories which from all available indicators neither emanated from the authentic quarters nor transmitted accordingly.
We condemn in the strongest terms possible the commando style which the none labour party members purporting to be the SWC and their suspected backer said to a governorship aspirant on the platform of our great party, have been going about their undemocratic, desperate and obviously sponsored attempt to hijack the structures of the party, most likely as prelude to unleashing of a more sinister hidden agenda.
It is not in doubt that this deliberately instigated confusion has brought some lull in the activities and running of the party, however, we wish to assure the teeming members, leaders, obident and sympathizers of our great party that, in a few days time the whole dissolution and takeover stunt will be over and done with as the National Working Committee, NWC is fully on top of the matter.
In the light of the clear light at the end of the tunnel, we are calling on all members, leaders, obidients, sympathizers and indeed, the good people of Imo State, who have invested all their hope, trust and confidence in our great party, believing strongly that it’s their last bus stop for the much desired and yearned for change of leadership in the state come November, to remain steadfast and resolute in their faith and support as their expectations will definitely be met.
In a related development, a chieftain of the party, Chief Fabian Ihekweme in his public release ‘For the Records”, also insisted that they was no division but maintained that Onyekwulisi is in charge;
“Since the smooth handover of Party leadership by Onyekwere led former SWC to the new SWC led by Comrade Onyekwulisi FBI, there has been barrage of petitions being sponsored by just one governorship aspirant who thinks that LP Guber ticket is his family inheritance.
Let me state here very clearly and without any ambiguity, that the new Exco enjoys wide acceptability and confidence of Imo people especially the Obidients. The few people that are fighting over the change of Baton, are just political merchants who want to hijack the party and eventually sell it off to the highest bidder. We know their antecedents in Imo state. These are serial impunists who are known for selling their guber tickets to make quick bucks. They are crying wolves now because their evil plans to trade with the party for their selfish enterprise has failed.
Imo Labour Party Guber ticket is not for sale. Whoever wins the ticket in a free, fair and transparent manner will become our candidate and we will give him/her our full support.
We will nolonger tolerate this madness from serial bribe takers and opportunists with entitlement mentality.
The National Leadership of LP painstakingly constituted the new Caretaker Committee to give Imo LP a new sense of positive direction and I think we should respect that and support the new Exco. All these bickerings by opportunists who joined LP just to take advantage of the momentum to run for governorship with the sole purpose of making personal wealth as they have always done in the past, will not work.
Let me reiterate again, that Imo LP Guber ticket is not for sale and can never be sold to anyone even with the entire money in the CBN. Imo people have suffered a great deal, we cannot afford to fail our people again. If you know that you are popular, come out and fight for the ticket in a democratic manner. We should stop looking for a short-cut to hijack the party.
Once upon a time, precisely in 2011 a certain Governorship hopeful who was also the leader of his party in the state, sold his ticked to someone else. He made his brother who was busy with his fashion design business the Deputy Governor against all odds. Infact, he nominated his 24 years old son to pair with Owelle Rochas Okorocha as his Deputy but Owelle protested when he found out that the boy was just 24 years. Unable to force Owelle to use his son, he then decided to recommend his younger brother to replace his son. After the election, he was asked to nominate Commissioner for Works, and two SAs. Guess what he did, he still nominated his brother who was already Deputy Governor as the Commissioner for works. He didn’t stop there, he equally nominated two members of immediate family as SAs. All the people that worked for him during the campaigns were completely sidelined. According to him, none was qualified to be in the government. Meanwhile, his brother he made Deputy Governor was never part of his Campaign. This is the kind of politicians we have in Imo state. And these are the kind of people fronting themselves as our leaders. God punish devil.
This same man is up in arms again fighting to grab the LP Guber ticket because he has a lucrative buyer waiting by the corner. But I can assure him that there is no ticket to buy. The ticket we have is not for sale. The ticket will be marketed in a free, fair and transparent manner by Imo people and the Obidients. The people will decide who picks LP Guber ticket for Imo state. There can NEVER be a trade off. This remains the standard as long as the current SWC remains in office.
Let me sincerely, commend the National Leadership of LP especially the National Chairman Comrade Barr. Julius Abure for injecting new lease of life to the party in Imo State. This has not only reinforced our faith in the party but has also fortified us to approach the next election as a united Party.
A lot of things went wrong with the former Exco led by Ambrose Onyekwere. That SWC was shamefully balkanised and they were very transactional throughout the period they held sway. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was when INEC released the list of Party Agents in Imo state for the presidential election, we discovered that the genuine list that was front-loaded by the Imo LP, was completely changed with different names. Even the Agent tags which our party received from INEC were sold to APC. That was why all the polling unit Agents wearing LP Tags in the rigged Presidential election were APC members. And they allowed Presiding Officers to go with the BVAS without uploading the results. That was why we recorded huge voter suppression in Imo state. What a shame!
Right now, the new State Exco led by Comrade FBI Onyekwulisi has made adequate and deliberate arrangements to correct the ills of the past. All the House of Assembly candidates of LP, have been directed by the new Chairman to submit list of their Agents for the forthcoming elections. We are therefore, confident that LP this time, will have true and genuine Agents in all the polling units across Imo state in the next elections.
It is also important to note that the proceeds (blood money) from the sales of LP Agent Tags were shared between a certain governorship aspirant and a few top officials of the dissolved Exco.
Thank God that a great opportunity has just presented itself to correct the madness and this commercial impunity inherent in the party. We can now go to the polls in one piece and with all our arsenals.
