A chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Imo State, Dr. Fabian Ihekwueme has appealed to the members of the party and the public to disregard the insinuation that there is crisis or division in the party in the State.
In a statement released by Ihekwueme, who is also the Imo State and South East Coordinator of Big Tent, a support group of the Labour Party said 'Since the smooth handover of Party leadership by the former State Chairman, Chief Ambrose Onyekwere led former State Working Committee (SWC) to the new SWC led by Comrade Onyekwulisi Festus Bethel Iyke (FBI), there has been barrage of petitions being sponsored by just one governorship aspirant who thinks that LP Guber ticket is his family inheritance.
"Let me state here very clearly and without any ambiguity, that the new Exco enjoys wide acceptability and confidence of Imo people especially the Obidients. The few people that are fighting over the change of baton, are just political merchants who want to hijack the party and eventually sell it off to the highest bidder. We know their antecedents in Imo state. These are serial impunists who are known for selling their guber tickets to make quick bucks. They are crying wolves now because their evil plans to trade with the party for their selfish enterprise has failed," he said.
He pointed out that Imo Labour Party Guber ticket is not for sale and whoever wins the ticket in a free, fair and transparent manner would become the candidate and would be given full support.
According to him, we will no longer tolerate this madness from serial bribe takers and opportunists with entitlement mentality.
"The National Leadership of LP painstakingly constituted the new Caretaker Committee to give Imo LP a new sense of positive direction and I think we should respect that and support the new Exco. All these bickerings by opportunists who joined LP just to take advantage of the momentum to run for governorship with the sole purpose of making personal wealth as they have always done in the past, will not work.
"Let me reiterate again, that Imo LP Guber ticket is not for sale and can never be sold to anyone even with the entire money in the CBN. Imo people have suffered a great deal, we cannot afford to fail our people again. If you know that you are popular, come out and fight for the ticket in a democratic manner. We should stop looking for a short-cut to hijack the party.
"This same man is up in arms again fighting to grab the LP Guber ticket because he has a lucrative buyer waiting by the corner. But I can assure him that there is no ticket to buy. The ticket we have is not for sale. The ticket will be marketed in a free, fair and transparent manner by Imo people and the Obidients. The people will decide who picks LP Guber ticket for Imo state. There can NEVER be a trade off. This remains the standard as long as the current SWC remains in office.
"Let me sincerely, commend the National Leadership of LP especially the National Chairman Comrade Barr. Julius Abure for injecting new lease of life to the party in Imo state. This has not only reinforced our faith in the party but has also fortified us to approach the next election as a united Party.
"A lot of things went wrong with the former Exco led by Ambrose Onyekwere. That SWC was shamefully balkanised and they were very transactional throughout the period they held sway. The last straw that broke the camel's back was when INEC released the list of Party Agents in Imo state for the presidential election, we discovered that the genuine list that was front-loaded by the Imo LP, was completely changed with different names. Even the Agent tags which our party received from INEC were sold to APC. That was why all the polling unit Agents wearing LP Tags in the rigged Presidential election were APC members. And they allowed Presiding Officers to go with the BVAS without uploading the results. That was why we recorded huge voter suppression in Imo state. What a shame!
"Right now, the new State Exco led by Comrade FBI Onyekwulisi has made adequate and deliberate arrangements to correct the ills of the past. All the House of Assembly candidates of LP, have been directed by the new Chairman to submit list of their Agents for the forthcoming elections. We are therefore, confident that LP this time, will have true and genuine Agents in all the polling units across Imo state in the next elections.
"It is also important to note that the proceeds (blood money) from the sales of LP Agent Tags were shared between a certain governorship aspirant and a few top officials of the dissolved Exco.
"Thank God that a great opportunity has just presented itself to correct the madness and this commercial impunity inherent in the party. We can now go to the polls in one piece and with all our arsenals," Ihekwueme concluded.
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