The Nation Newspaper

Tag: LP candidate

  • Labour Party candidate condemns Fayose’s employment exercise one month to election

    The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Dr. Sikiru Lawal, has condemned the decision of Governor Ayo Fayose to employ 2,000 people into the state’s civil service, barely one month to the July 14 governorship election in the state.

    Lawal described Fayose’s latest move as insincere and deceitful, wondering why the governor did not carry out promotion exercise in the last three years and eight months that he has been in power.

    Speaking during on a programme on Channels Television, monitored in Ado-Ekiti, Lawal urged the people to vote for him, stressing that he possesses the requisite experience to occupy the governor’s seat.

    He also said the LP manifesto is pro-people and pro-masses and that it is capable of meeting the needs of Ekiti people whom he said has been traumatised by governance style of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government.

    The former deputy governor expressed sadness that civil servants are being owed arrears of salaries by the Fayose regime. He said payment of benefits of workers and pensioners would be his first priority before executing any project.

    Lawal who said he was a civil servant for 23 years and presently a pensioner said his heart bleeds everyday on the condition of workers and retirees who are suffering hardship over arrears of pay owed them.

    He said: “The question is what have you been doing before now? For three and half years you did not employ anybody, so why are they employing now? Why are they promoting now?

    “That is political, that is political, but by the grace of God, I will do better when I become governor. For 23 years, I was in the civil service. I wrote a paper on what I called post-retirement poverty in Ekiti when we were in government.

    “The consideration of that paper was what gave birth to the payment of all outstanding arrears of benefits and gratuities then.

    “When you are not paying salaries, you are not energizing the economy in Ekiti State. We are going to take care of workers because I am part of them and our party, Labour Party, is workers’ party.”

    Lawal said Ekiti people are looking for an alternative platform and a third force, having tried the two major parties, the PDP and the APC.

     

  • Tribunal judgement not a surprise, says LP candidate

    Tribunal judgement not a surprise, says LP candidate

    The governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Rivers State during the last elections, Prince Tonye Princewill, said yesterday that the nullification of the declaration of Mr. Nyesom Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not come to him and many others as a surprise.

    He therefore told the PDP to forget about appealing the election petitions tribunal verdict on the matter.

    “Even PDP supporters, I’m sure in their heart of hearts, knew that this day would come. Like I said to my supporters on that election day, justice will prevail and the truth of this day will come out,” Princewill said in a statement.

    He added:”even as it may have come as a surprise to many neutral observers, it was no surprise to me, my supporters and many Rivers people who came out on that fateful day to try and cast their vote.”

    “If the APC legal team could not prove that there was no election in Rivers State, nobody could. It was that obvious.

    “I’d like to thank all the judges for upholding the law, the parties for conducting their briefs with civility and the people of Rivers state for surviving this period.”

     

  • LP candidate withdraws

    LP candidate withdraws

    The governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Plateau State, Bagudu Hirse, has withdrawn from the election.

    Hirse, who announced his withdrawal at a news conference in Jos yesterday, said: “The decision to withdraw from the election was taken to allow my supporters vote the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Simon Lalong.”

    According to him, “each of the three senatorial zones produced a governorship candidate to contest in the April 11 election, but I have decided to step down to pave the way for an APC victory in the election.

    “My reason is simple, with the victory of APC in the presidential election, it will not be in the interest of the state to allow another party win the governorship election because we can’t afford not to be in the mainstream of national politics.

    “I therefore use this opportunity to tell my supporters to vote for the APC.”

     

  • Gunmen attack LP candidate’s home in Calabar

    GUNMEN,  on Tuesday evening, attacked the home of the Labour Party’s House of Representatives candidate for Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency, Dr Alex Egbuna in Ekorinm, Calabar, Cross River State.

    The incident, it was gathered, occurred about 7pm when four young men stormed the home in a black Toyota Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).

    They were resisted by the security men on guard, but a policeman was said to have been shot and his rifle taken. The policeman is receiving treatment in a hospital in Calabar.

    Egbuna, a former chief of staff to Governor Liyel Imoke, was not home when the incident occurred.

    This is the latest in a spate of violence that has characterised this election season in the state.

    In his reaction,  Chairman of the state’s Inter-Party Advisory Council Mr Goddie Akpama called on leaders to call their supporters to order and urged security agents to curb the violence.

    He said: ‘’Do or die politics is bad. If candidates want to win votes and you are killing the people that are coming out to vote how do you get the votes?

    “Again, people may stay away because they don’t want to be killed. This will not help our democracy and can contribute to voter apathy. Our state is low in terms of voting strength. If you now start the do-or-die politics, by way of killing ourselves, who will come out to vote?

    “We won’t even have the strength to talk at the national  level. So, the party leaders should call their supporters to order. It is a viral thing. It is not the best. I am calling on security agencies to bring calm to the situation. They should sign a peace accord. They have to sign undertakings.”

    Police spokesman ASP Hogan Bassey could not be reached for comments.

  • LP candidate to INEC: ensure all get cards

    LP candidate to INEC: ensure all get cards

    Osun State Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate Alhaji Fatai Akinbade has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that the electorate is not disenfranchised on Saturday.

    Addressing his supporters at a campaign rally in Oriade and Obokun local government areas, Akinbade urged INEC to ensure that all registered voters get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) before the poll.

    The LP candidate, who was reacting to the people’s complaints, said: “We urge INEC to do all it can to ensure that all registered voters get their PVCs. Many prospective voters have not got their cards. Even those who transferred within the state since April have not received their PVCs.

    “The commission is doing a good job but it can do better. I urge INEC to make sure prospective voters who are yet to get their PVCs in the two local government areas get them in good time to enable them participate in the election.”

    The people of Ijesa North Federal Constituency trooped out to welcome Akinbade’s campaign train. Traditional rulers in the area, led by the Arakeji of Ikeji Ile, Oba Adebayo Ogunmokun, prayed for Akinbade’s success in the poll.

    The LP candidate thanked them for their support and pledged to ensure equitable distribution of amenities across the state, if elected.

    He also promised to create jobs and reposition the education and health sectors.