POLITICS
Labour Party Not for Political Opportunists, Party Replies Okupe
By Jude Opara, Abuja
The Labour Party (LP) on Tuesday, reacted to the resignation of the former Director General of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Doyin Okupe, saying the party can never be a haven for political opportunists.
In a statement issued in Abuja by the National Publicity Secretary (NPS), Obiora Ifoh, the party said its leadership decided to respond to Okupe because not doing so could send wrong signals to members of the public.
He added that the said letter which Okupe claimed to have given to the National Chairman of the party, Barr. Julius Abure has not been received.
“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have responded but because of media attention it has been generating since yesterday.
Needless to say that after the general election, a few members of the party had left while many others had also joined the party. It is within the rights of any Nigerian to associate with any political parties of their choice.“In the letter said to have been addressed to our National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, which is yet to be received, Okupe cited ideological conflict as the reason he left PDP, he also addressed the Labour Party pejoratively as a “Special Purpose Vehicle.”
“This response wouldn’t have been necessary if Okupe had left quietly or perhaps claimed ‘personal reasons’ for his actions but by way of him demeaning a party believed to have won the majority of votes by Nigerians but was denied victory by the Nigerian system was clearly a mischief carried too far.
“Okupe is aware that the Labour Party is ideologically rooted in the left of the centre and he admitted that he has been a rightist and a Liberal Democrat all his entire life, one wonders what he was looking for in a party that is diametrically opposed to his ideological leaning. What kind of political harlotry was he exhibiting by finding no qualms in jumping from one party to another with such ease?
“His exit from the Labour Party is not in any way surprising to us. A true character of traditional politicians who moves from place to another, he was in PDP, from PDP to APC and then Labour Party and we won’t be surprised if he goes back to his vomit and embraces either APC or PDP all over again. It is all about where food is ready.
“Labour Party is an ideological party, it has a clear cut ideology which supports equal opportunity and social justice. It is specifically not a place for people like Doyin Okupe. Our system in the Labour Party does not support political opportunists. The system will naturally expose such political characters and eject them. I ask again, had the Labour Party declared winner of the presidential election, will Okupe remain with the party or jump ship in adherence to his ideological leaning.
“We must recall that Okupe was forced to abdicate office half way into the campaign because of the baggage he came with from the other party where he served. The courts whipped him into early political menopause, so he really didn’t contribute much to the Labour Party’s success in the 2023 electoral voyage, however we are glad he acknowledged that we offered him shelter.”
However, the statement added that the leadership of the Labour Party wishes him well in his future political adventure, assuring that the party remains positive that a new Nigeria is still possible.
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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