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Tag: Labour Party (LP)

  • LP candidate tackles Aiyedatiwa over Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

    LP candidate tackles Aiyedatiwa over Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

    The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State, Chief Sola Ebiseni, has criticised Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s failure to speak on the proper alignment of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

    Ebiseni alleged that the maps of the alignment showed that the road might not appropriately traverse the Ondo coastal portion.

    Speaking at a press briefing in Akure, Ebiseni described the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway as one of the most visionary projects by the Tinubu administration for the people of the Niger Delta

    He said the Ondo State portion, which is about 100 kilometres and has the longest shoreline, stands to benefit, particularly in the area of coastal investments and management of coastal erosion.

    Read Also: Yusuf receives minimum wage report

    He said efforts by leaders of thought from Ondo State to ensure justice have proved abortive. Ebiseni said: “The governor has been indifferent. I suggested to him since May to call a meeting to brief our people for representations like other states and communities to the Federal Government on the proper and beneficial alignment of the palpable tension all over the place.

     “Our governor is busy celebrating a kilometre of the concrete walkway where a project that will enhance the establishment of deep-sea ports, coastal investments, redress the coastal erosion in Aiyetoro and other places and impact our lives and civilisation for good is being allowed to slip by. We need a governor with the proper understanding and clout to make things work.”

    Ebiseni said his chances of winning the election are high because his campaign revolves around previous achievements of the LP government in education, health, integrated rural development, and women and youth empowerment.

     He said: “My deputy, Dayo Awude, and I were commissioners in the LP government headed by Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. We are not in the business of crowd rentals or preaching to the disciples by hauling our members in buses to Akure and persuading the converted. We will meet the people where they are and point to LP projects in their localities.

    “They know that under the LP government, education was free up to secondary school level with the state government paying WAEC fees, which the present government refused to pay, resulting in monumental national embarrassment where WAEC had to withhold the results of children.

    “Incidentally, these projects are easily identifiable with their LP orange colours. The people believe we can do much more because we were part of the success story. The other parties have nothing to show, except personal controversial records of their candidates.”

  • Labour Party crisis deepens as national vice chairman, secretary arrested in Abia

    Labour Party crisis deepens as national vice chairman, secretary arrested in Abia

    … Police confirm arrest, says investigation ongoing

    The southeast national vice chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Comrade Ceekay Igara, has been arrested, along with Prince G.O. Nwabueze, who was later identified as the Secretary of the State Working Committee of the party.

    According to reports, Igara and Nwabueze were apprehended in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), a division of the Abia State Police Command, with their base located at the Aba North Local Government Area headquarters.

    Comrade Igara, a former LP State Chairman in Abia, is a loyal member of the faction supporting the embattled National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure.

    The arrest took place during a stakeholders’ meeting at a hotel owned by a Labour Party House of Representatives candidate for Aba North and South Federal Constituency.

    The meeting was being held on Margaret Avenue, off PZ Junction in Aba North, when armed and masked RRS officers stormed the venue and took both Igara and the State Working Committee Secretary of his faction into custody.

    Our correspondent gathered that the Labour Party’s national vice chairman was taken to Umuahia and detained in the custody of the State Criminal and Investigation Department (SCID) in Umuahia, the state capital, while the state secretary was released.

    Addressing members of the party after his release, Nwabueze who spoke in Aba said that they were able to discover that the national vice chairman was detained at the facility of the SCID.

    He went further to accuse the state government of being behind the arrest of Igara.

    Read Also: Tinubu hails Oba of Benin on 71st birthday, 8th coronation anniversary

    He accused the governor of the state, Dr. Alex Otti of attempting to hijack the structure of the party in the state.

    Nwabueze, who accused the governor of handpicking candidates for the upcoming local government election, vowed that they would resist attempts to impose candidates on members of the party.

    When contacted, the spokesperson for the NPF, Abia Command, Maureen Chinaka confirmed the arrest of Igara and three others whose names were not given for alleged impersonation, obtaining by false pretense, and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace in the state, adding that, he was also released the same day; Saturday.

    “The Abia State Police Command received a written petition from the Labour Party’s Acting State Chairman against Mr. Ceekey Igara and three others for alleged impersonation, obtaining by pretense, and conduct likely to cause a breach of peace.

    “Yesterday, 19/10/2024, detectives from the Command invited Mr. Igara, to the Command Headquarters, took his statement, and released him the same day. An investigation is ongoing.”

    In a statement, the leadership of LP loyal to the Nnenadi Usman-led faction Hon. Emmanuel Nweze Oti Ag. State Chairman, Labour Party read “Mr. Igara’s arrest stems from a petition we wrote to the Police against him and others over their acts of Extortion and Impersonation of the state Chapter of the Party.

    “That Mr. Igara, by the Constitution of our party has no legal right to usurp or impersonate the office of the State Chairman, having ceased to be the state chairman after he was elected the South East National Vice Chairman in March this year.

    “That no law court has invalidated the existence or activities of the Acting State Chairman Mr. Emmanuel Oti and his Executive members, hence it was wrong and illegal for Mr. Igara to impersonate the Chairman and his executive by carrying out their legally recognised functions without their consent or approval.

    “That we are aware that following the petition, he had been invited by the police which he refused to honour.

    “That while we recognise and respect the judgment which recognised Barr. Julius Abure as the national chairman of Abure’s faction which Igara is part of has no right to flagrantly ignore the appeal and the motion for a stay of execution that had been duly filed against them, by purportedly dissolving and imposing a new Caretaker leadership on the Abia State Chapter, against the provisions of the law and the Constitution of our party.

    “Again, the Abia State Chapter of Labour Party had gone further to secure a validly issued order of court which restrains Abure, Igara, and others from those activities which prompted our petition to the Police.

    “If we could recognise and respect the judgment of the court on Abure, we do not see any reason why Abure and Igara should ignore the Appeal and Motion for a Stay of Execution filed in the same court. Why should Abure and Igara choose the court orders to obey or ignore?

    “Finally, we wish to emphatically state that the State Chapter of the Labour Party is peaceful and law-abiding, hence every single action we have taken, including our petition to the Police against Igara which led to his arrest, has been in line with the provisions of the law, therefore those trying to pander to emotions by blackmailing the Abia State Government over his arrest are either ignorant of the facts, or are doing so for selfish political reasons, and should be ignored by the public.”

  • Defect to PDP and lose your seats, says LP warns Enugu lawmakers

    Defect to PDP and lose your seats, says LP warns Enugu lawmakers

    The Labour Party (LP) has warned lawmakers elected on its platform in the Enugu State House of Assembly that their seats would be declared vacant if they go ahead to defect to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

    The LP’s warning followed reported plans by seven members of the legislature elected on the platform of the party to dump the party for the PDP.

    Although it is still unclear what prompted the LP lawmakers to ditch the party, it was gathered that the members were planning to defect to the ruling PDP to solidify their seats for a possible second term.

    Sources said that the defection party has been slated to take place inside the Enugu State Government House at a later date.

    It was gathered that one of the defectors, Honorable Osita Eze, representing Oji River State Constituency had already written to his LP ward chairman concerning his planned defection.

    Other members reported in the defection plan include Ejike Eze, Igboeze North 2; Pius Ezugwu, Nsukka West Constituency and Chukwu Ani, Enugu North constituency.

    But, reacting to the development, the chairman of the Labour Party (LP), in Enugu Barrister Casmir Agbo, said that the party would approach all levels of the courts in the country to ensure that the seats of the defectors were declared vacant.

    The chairman blamed the situation on the personal ambition of the legislators rather than the collective good of their respective constituents.

    According to him, after the party lost two cases at the appeal court the number of LP legislators reduced to eleven while that of PDP increased to twelve.

    “So, LP legislators holding positions now feel threatened should there be any change in the leadership of the house and hence decided to join the PDP to retain their positions,” he said

  • Apologise to Nigerians, foreign stakeholders, LP chieftain tells INEC

    A Lawyer and Rights Activist, Dr Kayode Ajulo, has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be penitent and apologise to Nigerians and foreign stakeholders over the elections’ postponement.

    Ajulo, a former National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), gave the advice in Lagos on Saturday:

    “The dramatic development that happened to the effect of elections postponement overnight to its conduct by INEC is simply unfortunate as well as embarrassing.

    “As adduced by INEC, the reasons presented as alibi for the ill-timed postponement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections being for “logistics” reasons flies in the face of logic and portrays Nigeria as being unserious.

    “It is therefore inexcusable for a graphic expression of apology to be delayed any further, lest the commission commits further goofing and burns its goodwill incrementally.

    “Beyond apologising, however, earnest efforts must be made to ensure that this manner of almost regular, but needless alterations in our electoral processes is discontinued,” Ajulo said in a statement.

    According to him, for elections whose dating has been done for over a year and for which INEC, its handlers, has repeatedly expressed preparedness, the news of re-scheduling is unfortunate.

    He described as regrettable, the news of a rescheduled elections from the commission at a time when the nation was about commencing the voting process, when election observers from the various parts of the globe were already at duty posts.

    “INEC announced the unfortunate alteration without a word of apology to various stakeholders, particularly Nigerian voters who have journeyed to far distances to perform the all-important civil rights.

    “Citizens who have put in risks of various proportions to get to different locations for voting deserve apologies.

    “Observers with calculated expenses, candidates whose budgets have been tampered with, innocent corp members who bear huge risks in the interest of the country, all deserve a word of consolation,” Ajulo added.

    The LP chieftain said it was unacceptable for INEC, who solely bore the blame for this embarrassing development to have merely announced a rescheduled without apology.

    According to him, the rescheduled elections come with such astromical costs and consequences, hence, the need for penitence and sure apologies from INEC.

    “INEC, having shifted its timetable, lacks justification to shut out parties/candidates for failure to meet the deadlines for presenting candidates as seen in Rivers, Zamfara and other states.

    “Does INEC consider these dear costs? Does it weigh the worth of these costs and thinks of mitigating them? These are queries INEC must act on.”

    NAN reports that INEC shifted the Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections by one week after a meeting, which began Friday evening ended early on Saturday.

    The governorship and Houses of Assembly, FCT area council elections, have also been shifted from March 2 to March 9.

    INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, attributed the postponement of all the scheduled elections to logistic and operational problems.

    NAN

     

  • Osun debate: Oyetola, others promise education, health revolution 

    Plans to revolutionize education, health and other sectors were laid bare by candidates of some of the political parties participating in the Osun State governorship election in the final debate Thursday.

    The debate, which was organized by the TVC in conjunction with some civil society groups, was held at the WOCDIF Centre, Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

    The participants are Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Olugbenga Akintola of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Babatunde Loye of Labour Party (LP), Mercy Ayodele of Reformation Party of Nigeria (RPN) and Oluseyi Fabiyi of KOWA party.

    Candidates of the remaining four major parties – Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Party (ADP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) were absent.

    The organizers said they all promised to attend but failed to show up.

    On education, Oyetola said the Rauf Aregbesola administration has done well in education but that he would focus more on the technological aspect of education, give scholarships, train and retrain teachers and also sustain the free meal for students.

    Akintola promised to promote functional literacy and numeracy skills, improve funding for education and improve welfare of teachers.

    The other candidates also promised to train and retrain teachers and pay salaries regularly.

    On health, the APC candidate promised to embrace the National Health Insurance Scheme for workers, upgrade facilities of primary health centres, equip them with drugs and motivate medical workers.

    Other candidates also promised to motivate health workers, build mega hospitals whose services will be paid for as well as embrace health insurance.

    On job creation, Oyetola pledged to sustain the Osun State Youths Employment Scheme dubbed OYES, create five new farm settlements and give incentives to youths to go into agriculture. He further promised to look at exploring the value chain in agriculture that includes processing, transportation and storage, among others.

    Fabiyi promised to build technology village in the three senatorial zones to harness the skills of artisans for development.

    For Loye, the way to succeed in job creation in times like this is to encourage youths to go into technology related businesses.

     

  • Kwara suffers from development deficits, says Issa Aremu

    Ahead of today’s governorship primaries of the Labour Party (LP) in Kwara state, governorship aspirant of the party, Comrade Issa Aremu has said that the state suffers from huge development deficits.

    The frontline labour leader said if elected the governor of the state, he would rebuild Kwara state from what he called “Ghetto” of poverty into land of prosperity and common wealth for all.”

    He promised to do that “Through selflessness, statesmanship, entrepreneurship, compassion, managing diversity, equality, inclusiveness, sense of justice and fairness.

    He said his promised stewardship will be a continuation of his selfless and tested struggle within the national, African and global labour movement spanning four decades.”

    Comrade Aremu said this in Ilorin, the state capital when he visited the Emir of Ilorin Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari for royal blessing on his ambition

    He promised to draw on the experience of traditional authorities with respect to governance and leadership if elected to office in all the communities that make up Kwara state.

    He vowed to revive old industries in the state, adding that new ones will be created for the benefit of the teeming unemployed youth in the state.

    He said that the manifesto of LP recognizes that traditional rulers are the real custodians of the traditional institutions and cultural values of the Nigerian people and that in this capacity they play a very important leadership role at the grassroots level.

    In a remark, Alhaji Sulu-Gambari described the aspirant as a competent candidate who is fit, by all standards, to be the state governor and even the president of this country.

    Read Also: Torrential rains wreak havoc in Kwara

    The Emir said the LP governorship candidate is a man with a versed knowledge and wealth of experience who according to him has been a mover and shaker of this country and beyond.

    He said that his leadership quality has given him the ample opportunity and recognition to have been nominated at different times to represent Kwara, Nigeria and even Africa in general at different fora.

    Alhaji Sulu Gambari said Comrade Aremu was one of the leading figures at the former National Confab that was set up by the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

    The Emir said Comrade Aremu has every right to contest for any political office of his choice in view of his track record of achievements and prayed God to be with him and guide him in the task

     

  • CNM opens talks with LP

    CNM opens talks with LP

    A source said at the weekend that a delegation of the coalition members had opened talks with the Labour Party (LP), with the intention of adopting the small opposition party as platform for next year’s election.

    The source added: “We can say that preliminary talks have opened between the coalition movement and a section of the Labour Party (LP) leadership. The LP is being considered because it is popular and firmly established, and it is considered as a masses-oriented party, its meagre electoral successes notwithstanding. There will be more elaborate meetings in the weeks ahead.”

    The source said the LP was being considered in view of the “urgency of the situation” and the need to prepare well for 2019 polls without necessarily going through the hurdles of party registration.

    He added that while former President Ousegun Obasanjo is perceived as an asset to the movement, which he inspired in his statement to President Muhammadu Buhari, many Nigerians also perceive him as a liability to the movement because of his antecedents.

    He added: “Therefore, if the coalition becomes a party, there are some people who will not join it because of Obasanjo, although they want change in 2019. This is because even within the movement, there is a suspicion that the former president has a hidden agenda.

    “Besides, there are fears that the coalition as a party may not fly in 2019 because of lack of formidable structures across the states and geo-political zones. By 2019, there is no evidence to show that the coalition would have been able to mobilise enough governors and other elected representatives at state and federal levels to coordinate the battles against the ruling APC. The coalition has two foes now; the APC and the PDP. Therefore, it is better to launch the attack on the platform of an already existing party.”

    The source however, said the talks with the Labour Party may split the polarised Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which seems to have divergent views on the 2019 agenda.

    He added: “There is a section of the Labour Party that is very cautious. They see the moves by the coalition as an attempt to hijack the party from them. But, the contact continues.”

  • Ogboru vows to end PPD Rule in Delta

    Ogboru vows to end PPD Rule in Delta

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta state, Chief Great Ogboru has vowed to put an end to the dominance of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and deliver the state to the APC in 2019.

    Ogboru who said he was going to run for the governorship ticket of the APC in 2019 said if given the ticket by the party, he was capable of displacing incumbent governor, Ifeanyi Okowa and give President Muhammadu Buhari 75 percent of votes at the Presidential election.

    Speaking when he visited the Director General of the Buhari Support Group Centre, BSGC, Alhaji Umaru Dembo in Abuja, Ogboru said it is evident that the PDP, had always rigged elections in the State since 1999, and vowed to put a stop to it in 2019 when he hoped to contest on the platform of the ruling APC for the State Governor’s office.

    He said “We must thank God that president Muhammadu Buhari has come to sanitize the nation and put an end to impunity which the PDP institutionalized since 1999 when it came to power”.

    He assured that he was going to rally support of his supporters that formed the bulk of the Labour Party LP, and the Democratic People’s Part, DPP, to coalesce on the platform of the APC to rid Delta State of the PDP, in 2019, saying “I can claim that with the huge support base that we enjoy in Delta, we can deliver more than 75% votes to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.”

    Responding, Alhaji Dembo who is a former minister of state petroleum, commended him for his foresight in joining the APC and assured him of the support and cooperation of the centre in the struggle to secure the party’s nomination ticket and go on to win the gubernatorial election in Delta in 2019.

    The former minister further assured his visitors that with President Buhari’s democratic credentials, and accomplishments within the last two years of the APC’s administration, Nigerians would readily embrace him and those who associate with his vision as leaders they can trust.

  • Tell Nigerians Maina’s whereabouts, Labour Party tells FG

    Tell Nigerians Maina’s whereabouts, Labour Party tells FG

    The Labour Party (LP ) has said that the federal government should accept its complicity in the questionable recall of former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, saying the government should tell Nigerians his whereabouts.

    The party said since the government recalled and reinstated in, they must know where he is at the moment and should therefore arrest and prosecute him on allegations of corruption leveled against him.

    Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, National Chairman of the Party, Dr Mike Omotoso, said “You will recall that Maina was sacked by the last administration and placed on Wanted List. We are calling on the federal government to arrest and prosecute Maina if they know where he is. Since they were the ones that brought him back and reinstated him, they should also bring him out now, arrest and prosecute him”.

    He said the recall of Maina was an embarrassment to the country and made mockery of the anti corruption crusade of the Buhari administration.

    Also speaking, National Publicity Secretary of the party, Everett Ifendu accused the former national chairman, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam of continued impersonation, saying he had since been suspended following serious allegations levelled against him by the party’s governorship candidate in Anambra.

    “We want to correct some misconceptions about our party. There is no leadership tussle in our party. Our National Chairman is Dr Mike Omotoso”, said Ifendu.

    According to her, the party had filed a formal complaint with the police who are currently investigating the disappearance of party property including a vehicle.

    The party lamented the inability of many governments to pay salaries of workers despite the bail out from their  federal government and the Paris Club refund, describing the trend as anti-people and a modern form of slavery.

    It however urged the federal government to launch an investigation into how the states governments utilized the budget support fund as well as the Paris Club Refund given them by the federal government, aside their federal allocation and internally generated revenue.

  • Unease as LP sacks State Chairman in Delta

    Unease as LP sacks State Chairman in Delta

    There is unease in Delta State Chapter of the Labour Party (LP) following the sack of its chairman, Tony Ezeagwu at the Special National Convention of the party and the inauguration of a caretaker committee.

    Two chairmen have emerged, including Comrade Emeka Nkwoala, whose caretaker committee was sworn-in Friday.

    But in a swift reaction, Ezeagwu described the action of the national body as “illegal”, maintaining that his position remains intact.

    But the party, in a letter signed by the Acting National Secretary of the party, Julius Abure, said until the state congress is conducted within 90 days to elect new State Working Committee (SWC), the activities of the party rest squarely on the caretaker committee.

    The National Youth Leader of the party, Andrew Ukpebitere, who represented the new National Chairman, Dr. Michael Omotosho, during the inauguration of the committee in Asaba Friday, warned Ezeagwu to stop parading himself as the state chairman.

    He urged Ezeagwu to submit himself to the disciplinary committee set up to investigate alleged anti-party activities proffered against him or risk being arrested.

    He said, “Ezeagwu’s constitutional three years tenure has since elapsed. INEC participated in the Special National Convention. The dissolution also affected the executives of the party in Anambra and Rivers states. He will be arrested in accordance with the law if he desists from parading himself.”

    He also said the former National Chairman of the party, Abdulkareem Sallam, accused of allegedly swindling the party of N1.3 billion will also face the disciplinary panel.