Labour Party’s (LP’S) governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has promised that the planned rally at Ngwa High School, Aba will hold today as planned despite a call by the government for the party to change its venue.
The party had announced that its presidential candidate and his running mate, Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti, including other national officers, would also be at the event where Otti would present his manifesto.
Commissioner for Post Basic Education Israel Mark, in a letter he signed yesterday, which was addressed to the state Chairman of the LP and copied Abia State Director, Department of State Services (DSS) and Abia State Commissioner of Police, said the government advised that the party should seek alternative venues to avoid disruption of academic activities.
He said LP should look for another venue or seek another date when students would not be in school, for its event, adding that the party should be aware that public and private schools, including Ngwa High School, Aba, are in session.
Mark said it would be wrong to “set this bad precedent of chasing away our hard working students and their teachers in order to hold political rallies that will not only disrupt academic activities, but will also predispose school properties to vandalism.”
But the Special Adviser to Dr. Otti, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, slammed the commissioner for Post Basic Education for not being abreast of what was happening in schools under his supervision.
He said the venue of the proposed rally did not belong to the state government, but a private religious institution, Aba-Ngwa North Diocese of the Anglican Communion, which he noted “has since given us approval after payment was made and received.”
Ekeoma said the school was on midterm break, which was one of the things the party considered before the date was chosen.
“We don’t expect the state government to be aware of this because they have no interest in the affairs of the school.
“That the owners and management of the facility, who have better knowledge of the vicinity and who have exhibited moral obligation to protect the welfare and well-being of their students than Abia State Government, understood that our rally would pose no threat to the facilities and students before giving their approval.
“Our governorship candidate, Otti, has proved his love for education. Hence he runs the most professionally-organised and sustainable undergraduate scholarship scheme for indigent students in Abia, unlike the current government that continues to superintend the de-accreditation and destruction of our academic institutions. Therefore the government’s insulting pretence of love for education and welfare of Abia students is hypocritical and provocative,” he said.