Senator Neda Imasuen, who represents Edo South Senatorial District on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), has praised President Bola Tinubu for his courageous leadership, saying the south deserves to retain the presidency in 2027.
Speaking during an interactive session with journalists over the weekend in Benin City, the Edo state capital, Imasuen said the president has shown “unbelievable strong courage” in navigating the affairs of the nation and should be allowed a second term.
He also welcomed the recent Supreme Court judgment sacking his kinsman, Julius Abure, as national chairman of the Labour Party, declaring that Abure did not have the party’s interest at heart.
Imasuen, who chairs the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Public Petitions, is currently the only LP senator in Edo state.
The other two senatorial seats—Edo North and Edo Central—are held by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including former Edo governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.
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Senator Imasuen hails from the Benin Kingdom, while Abure is from Ward 3, Arue in Esan Northeast Local Government Area, Edo Central.
The representative of Edo South senatorial district, which is a stronghold of the governing APC and the leading opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said: “I am glad to be part of this interactive session. It is a partnership that I seek. Whatever decision or direction I will take ahead of the 2027 general elections, you the journalists will be the first stakeholders to be informed.
“On the 2027 presidential election in Nigeria, the arrangement, whether written or unwritten, is that the North will do eight years, and the South will also do eight years. So, that is the battle, that is where they will be faced with the roadblock. At some point, the Northerners will agree with themselves and say let the South just finish its eight years. I do not worry about it, because it is an arrangement that is spoken or unspoken.
“There is an understanding between the North and the South. Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari was not someone whose policies I admired. As far as I am concerned, he (Buhari) did little or nothing as Nigeria’s president in eight years of two terms, but as bad as that was, everybody closed their eyes, and let him do his eight years. Even the Northerners that are agitating now, they saw Buhari, but they did not clamour that power should be taken from him, and they allowed him to do eight years. So, it is not different now that we have a President (Asiwaju Bola Tinubu), who is actually doing well.
“Why do I say he is doing well? He is a man with courage. He has such a strong courage that is unbelievable. I will give you an example, when we were faced with Tax Bill, it was a whole lot of things that happened within the Senate floor, that nobody sees it, especially when we had closed-door sessions, without cameras, recorders and reporters, people thought we were sharing money, but sometimes we were using unwanted languages and throwing tantrums at one another, just because you are holding strongly to your views.
“We are holding strongly to our views and because of that, the Northerners sometimes said they would never support President Tinubu to come for second time, but if it were to be some Presidents, they would say let me back down on this sensitive matter, so that I can come back for second term, but President Tinubu said no, I would do the right things. For me, he (President Tinubu) is a man of courage, who does not say because of second term, he will not do the right things.”
Imasuen also declared that the apex court-sacked Abure had lost focus, while there was need for sanity in LP.
He said: “Sincerely, I welcome the Supreme Court’s judgment that sacked Barrister Julius Abure as the National Chairman of LP in Nigeria. A lot has gone on in LP, and it is very unfortunate. So, Abure, who was the chairman of LP at the time, in my opinion, really did not have LP at heart, because it became a personal thing.
“It became something that did not really matter to them, and it was like let us fight and tear the party into pieces, instead of preserving it. That sort of thing was not what I expected from someone who led the party at a time. So, he has been dragging LP in and out of court, and now that the Supreme Court has finally sealed it, so be it. It is a welcome development.
“But the question for me and for all of us now is: where do we go from here? Someone spoke with me on the matter early this morning (April 5), and I said, I just hope that it is not a little too late of what has just come up, because LP is almost decimated. Most of the members have gone. Will this judgment bring them back? I do not know. Will it energise those who are there now? Again, I do not know. So, we need to talk.”
The LP chieftain (Imasuen) also hailed President Tinubu on his courage to conduct the important census before the 2027 general elections, in order to have accurate, not estimated population in Nigeria, and not minding the resistance from the North on the sensitive matter.
