says party not fielding candidates in 2015 polls
By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA — A faction of the Labour Party, LP, under the control of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, yesterday disowned some of the governorship candidates on the platform of the party, saying such persons were not known to the party.
Specifically, the party said that the former governor of Oyo State, Chief Christopher Alao-Akala, who is campaigning as LP’s governorship candidate; Prince will Tonye, who also wants to govern Rivers State on the party’s ticket and Chief Great Ogboru, who was said to have picked the party’s governorship ticket for Delta State, were not known by the Labour Party.
National Chairman, Caretaker Committee of LP, Comrade Salisu Mohammed, who disclosed this while addressing journalists at Labour House, Abuja, said LP was not fielding any candidate for the 2015 elections as its main concern was how to recover the party from those who had allegedly hijacked it and using it to trade.
Explaining that when the trade unions in the country founded the party, it was registered as a party for social democracy, Mohammed noted that some persons were using the party as a trading instrument to extort the people.
Besides, he said efforts had been made to recover the party from Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, its former National Chairman, and reposition it as well as collecting all the necessary documents of the party in his custody but the erstwhile national chairman had allegedly refused to hand over the documents to labour unions that gave them to him.
He said: “As a result of this unfortunate situation, we would like to assure him that we will take all legitimate actions to recover the certificate and other property of the party.
“We need to regretfully state that impostors have ganged up and are deceiving unsuspecting members of the public. These are politicians who for one reason or the other left their former political parties to seek other platforms for the realisation of their narrow political dreams.
“Of recent, the media has been awashed with purported entry of former governor of Oyo State, Chief Christopher Alao-Akala, into our party to contest for governorship of Oyo State. He is said to have been given the ticket by Mr. Salam and Mr. Dan Nwanyanwu, former National Secretary and the former National Chairman respectively.
“This ugly situation also goes to Chief Princewill Tonye of Rivers State, Chief Great Ogboru of Delta State, as well as some followers of Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State.
“They are now the latest victims of political buccaneers. In one word, we honestly counsel you all, don’t jump from frying pan into fire.”
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