Otti And The Challenge Of Deepening Labour Party In Southeast
As the only governor produced by the Labour Party ( LP), will Alex Otti of Abia State survive the pressure and politics in the comity of governors and remain in the party till the next general election in 2027. This is one of the issues agitating the minds of party chieftains in the state, reports.
THE Supreme Court pronouncement last week brought to finality the contentions over the winner of the 2023 governorship election in Abia State. The electoral contest, which started from the tribunal to the Court of Appeal and ended at the Supreme Court, was among the three leading political parties – the All Progressives Congress ( APC), Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) and Labour Party ( LP) – whose candidates in the election were Chief Ikechi Emenike, Chief Okechukwu Ahiwe and Alex Otti, respectively.
The Supreme Court in its wisdom decided that Otti rightfully won the election and upheld earlier rulings of the tribunal and Appeal Court in that regard. The Supreme Court decision has conferred on Otti the toga of the only governor produced by LP in Nigeria.
As it is, he is now saddled with the responsibility of governance, deepening acceptability of the party in the state and Southeast region and galvanising it towards the next general election.
Will Otti remain in the LP until the next general elections in 2027 or jettison the party and carry the mandate of Abia people to another political party, as had been the case with some governors? This is perhaps a challenge the governor would grapple with in the days ahead.
Some LP members in the state are expressing concerns that Nigerian politicians hardly stay in minority political platforms even when they used the platform to win elections. They prefer joining the ruling party or political parties with national spread.
For instance, in the Southeast, former governor Ikedi Ohakim won his election in Imo State in 2007 on the platform of the Progressive Peoples Alliance ( PPA). He abandoned the party a few years after and carried the mandate to the PDP in the guise of belonging to a platform with national spread. He attempted to return to office on the platform of his new party in 2011 and failed.
Rochas Okorocha also won his election in Imo State in 2011 on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance ( APGA). He later switched to the APC where he ran election again in 2015 and won.
In 2020, the current Minister of Works, Dave Umahi dumped the PDP for the APC after winning his re- election as governor in Ebonyi State. He claimed that he decided to do so because of “injustice” meted out to the Southeast by the PDP. Late last year, the senator representing Anambra South, Ifeanyi Ubah defected to the APC from the Young People’s Party ( YPP) after winning his election on the party’s platform.
There are several other cases trailing politicians and their defections to parties with larger spread in the country from smaller parties.
But there has been a different kettle of fish for governors produced by APGA in Anambra State. For 17 years now, APGA has been controlling power in Anambra State. Governors elected on its platform remained in the party to serve out their tenure and work for its success. Will this be applicable to Otti?
Political observers believe that Otti is not a neophyte in Nigerian politics. He has been around and has acquired some experience. In fact, on two occasions, he used the platform of APGA to contest the governorship of Abia State but failed. That was in the 2015 and 2019 elections.
The economist, banker turned politician came close to ruling the state in 2015 after the Court of Appeal in Owerri, Imo State, declared him winner of the election of that year. That was on December 31, 2015. On February 3, 2016, however, the Supreme Court overturned the Appeal Court ruling and reinstated the election of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP), Okezie Ikpeazu. The ruling of the Supreme Court notwithstanding, Otti remained in politics.
With the outcome of the 2023 general election and recent judgment of the Supreme Court, which gave sure footing to his election, Otti is sure to remain as governor till 2027 in a state that had been dominated by the PDP in the last 24 years.
However, analysts are of the opinion that the governor is not a typical politician that follows the crowd or government in power going by his stint so far in politics, which has been with relatively obscure political parties.
The odds, it was gathered, are hugely in his favour in Abia State. Aside from the rejection of the PDP by the people following its alleged abysmal performance in the last 24 years, the governor has come with the advantage of his party producing more members in the House of Representatives and State House of Assembly.
His party won the last presidential election in Abia State; six House of Reps seats and eleven state Assembly seats. Although his party was earlier declared winner in one of the senatorial zones with the candidate sworn into the Senate, the Court of Appeal stripped it off the victory in favour of PDP’S Austin Akobundu.
Sources stated that with the alleged abysmal performance of the PDP during its rule in the state and the quest by the people for change, Otti should leverage the lacuna to popularise LP and deepen its acceptance in the state.
The governor may have realised the role good governance could play in advancing the course of his party and has made appointments that reflected the three senatorial zones of the state. There are expectations that he would also replicate this in the area of infrastructure where he has promised to give the people of the state the best his government can afford.
It was further gathered that while the apron strings of godfathers had been deployed to hoodwink and dwindle development efforts of previous administra
However, analysts are of the opinion that the governor is not a typical politician that follows the crowd or government in power going by his stint so far in politics, which has been with relatively obscure political parties.
tions, Otti has shrugged it off, having personally financed his election.
A chieftain of the party, Albert Uzoma, told The Guardian that the governor was not a crowd follower, but a firm believer in the fact that his popularity and message could always swing victory to his side in any electoral contest. He stated that the governor had the opportunity to join the APC or but declined to do so on many occasions.
“He decided to test his popularity in APGA on two occasions. In 2015, he came close to claiming the office of the governor but for the ruling of the Supreme Court, which overturned the decision of the Appeal Court. In the two elections that he contested in the past, he didn’t leave APGA. He, however, dumped the party for the LP because of the leadership crisis that refused to heal.
“He has drawn a lot of followers to LP since he joined the party. He has charted his own path. He believes that Abia State needs good governance and this is the only thing that can strengthen the party in the state and by implication, the southeast region,” he said.
Unlike other smaller political parties, the LP, which now serves as the third largest opposition party in the Southeast region, won other elective seats in the zone in the 2023 elections.
In Enugu State, the party got two senatorial seats and seven House of Reps seats. While the two senatorial seats have remained intact, it has lost two House of Representatives seats with one going for rerun next month.
The party got 14 of the 24 State Assembly seats at the conclusion of the election but has lost two to the PDP by the pronouncement of the court and one going for rerun also next month.
In Anambra State, the party won two of the three senatorial seats; six of the eleven Federal House of Reps seats and nine out of the 30 State Assembly seats. It won one senatorial seat in Imo State; one in Edo and one in the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT).
There are views that if the party guards its electoral fortunes effectively; it might position itself properly to play at the national level as the second largest political party in Nigeria after the ruling party in the next elections.
A political analyst, Chidi Ofurum, said it is possible for the LP to evolve into a mega political party should the governor get the right support from the leadership and members of the party.
“He can only be distracted with internal crises from the party arising from leadership contests and other internal matters. Again, you will discover that all those who voted LP during the election did so because they wanted a change in the country. If Otti should toe this line of change, it will help brighten the chances of anyone who wishes to contest election in the party anywhere in the country. The party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi assured recently that LP would provide the litmus for opposition politics for the good of the country; virile opposition can indeed brighten the fortunes of the party.
“It is also imperative to know that LP has almost dislodged the PDP from the politics of the Southeast. Now that the parties are evenly matched with one state each, it means more work for the LP in the zone. There is the Anambra election next year. I personally think that it is a good ground for the LP to test its popularity in the state. It is a good ground to prove to the world that the edge it got in the 2023 general election in the state was not by error. So, we expect that whatever future the LP will enjoy in the politics of the country will manifest with the Anambra governorship election next year,” he added.