Obi: I’m Still in Labour Party, Not Leaving Soon
Says he’s not desperate to be Nigeria's president Party declares proposed stakeholders’ meeting jamboree NLC moves to set up caretaker committee
Presidential candidate of the opposition Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, has dismissed speculation he might quit the party in the light of its current leadership challenges, saying he was not leaving anytime soon.
Obi, while declaring he was still in the Labour Party, also said for the umpteenth time that he was not desperate to be Nigeria's president at any point in his life.
This was as the leadership of the Labour Party under Julius Abure, has described as drama and illegal, the proposed meeting of party’s stakeholders by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and those it described as desperate characters in the NLC.
At the same time, the leadership of the NLC has convened a meeting for today, Monday to inaugurate a caretaker committee that would take over the running of the affairs of the party as earlier proposed.
However, Obi, while dismissing insinuations he was preparing to dump the party said it was mere rumours peddled by politicians, who were jittery about his political popularity in the country.
The former Anambra State governor, who was fielding questions from Journalists in Bauchi yesterday shortly after he commissioned a hand pump for water supply in Sabon Layi Community, a suburbs of Bauchi metropolis, emphasised that despite the current leadership crisis in the Labour Party, he was not prepared to leave the party anytime soon.
"I am not thinking of 2027. My concern for now is how to improve the living standards and conditions of Nigerians. Nobody should be talking about politics now. The focus should be on good governance that will make Nigeria better," he said.
The former presidential hopefully stressed that, "The leadership crisis in the LP presently is not an abnormal thing, it is an in-house problem and it will be solved amicably as a family. I have never thought of leaving the LP. I only advocated peace because I am a man who believes in peace.
“I am a man, who believes in unity, I am a man believes that we are the same. I don't see any difference between you and me. By the grace of God, I always want to do the right thing. That is the reason I came here personally. I would have asked someone to represent me. No, I didn't.
"For me, it is not about elections, we spend more time talking about elections, let us spend time talking about how we can put poor people out of poverty. Let's spend time to know how out-of-school children will be back to school. Let's spend time in other areas, it is not about elections.
"I have said it before that I am not desperate to be president. I am desperate to see Nigeria work for the people. It is important for me because we cannot continue this way. Poor people in this country are suffering a lot. I am urging all leaders in and out of office, this is time for us to listen to to the people, it is time to work with them, time to feel a bit of their pains.
"The crisis in the LP will be resolved just like I have been saying and at the end, things will get better. Labour Party is not the problem of Nigeria, the problem of Nigeria is beyond Labour Party.
“So, my focus is not on the Labour Party but on Nigeria. My promise is a new Nigeria and that new Nigeria is what I am focused and it’s important that we all remain focused on it.
"If we fixed the leadership problems in Nigeria, I would not have been here to provide this water. So, let us talk about issues of this water, let's talk about how the people will live and eat. I assure that Labour Party will resolve its issue as a family. No family is perfect," he concluded.
LP: Proposed Stakeholders’ Meeting Jamboree
The Labour Party under the leadership of Julius Abure, has described as a drama and illegal, the proposed meeting by the NLC and those it described as desperate characters in the NLC.
The party chided the NLC for keeping quite in the face of the recent 300 percent in the tariff of electricity by the National Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC).
In statement by the Abure-led party and signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, "This meeting being organised by some drama boys and attention-seeking personalities in the NLC is illegal as we have not authorised it.
"It is not supported by any law in the land and therefore its outcome, a nullity. We are therefore calling on all genuine members of the party to disregard and shun the meeting.
"A few days ago, the federal government raised the electricity tariff to about 300 percent and the NLC has neither responded to it nor called out its members to protest the increment but it is quick to convene an unlawful meeting of disgruntled members who are not even party members.
"We are calling on the law enforcement agencies to rise up to the occasion and abort this gathering, which may likely degenerate to public nuisance.
"NLC does not have any proprietary right over the Labour Party and therefore cannot continue to lay claim to its ownership," Ifoh stated.
NLC Moves to Set Up Caretaker C’ttee
The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party seemed to have taken a new dimension as a key stakeholder, the Nigeria Labour Congress, has convened a meeting on Monday to inaugurate a caretaker committee to take over the running of the affairs of the party.
In an invitation letter sent to various stakeholders of the Labour Party over the weekend summoning them to a meeting in Abuja, the Acting Chairman of the NLC Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said the summit had become necessary due to recent development in the party
"Following the recent developments in the Labour Party, LP, we hereby invite you to the all-inclusive & expansive NLC/TUC/Labour Party/ Obedient Movement stakeholders meeting."
NLC which is at loggerheads with the leadership of LP led by Julius Abure over who is the rightful custodian of the party, said the party been misled and needs to be recovered from those it described as illegitimate officials.
In the notice for the stakeholders’ meeting, Ndubuaku said the agenda was to inaugurate a caretaker committee made up of the elected members of the National Working Committee and Board of Trustee of the 10th June 2019
" High point of the event is for the inauguration of the Labour Party Transition Caretaker Committee, CTC: (NWC and BoT) 2024, made up of the 10th June 2019, Elected Labour Party National Working Committee, NWC Members from the Akwanga Nasarawa State National Convention and the appointed members of the Labour Party Board of Trustee, BoT," he said.