Politics
2023: Nomination crisis rocks Labour Party state chapters
By AYOOLA OLAOLUWA
A major crisis is rocking the Labour Party (LP) over the decision of the party’s leadership to swap the lists of its candidates for the 2023 general elections already submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with another, Business Hallmark can report.
BH reliably gathered that no fewer than 22 state chapters are currently enmeshed in crisis over the unilateral replacement of names of candidates for elective offices in the 2023 general elections already submitted to INEC with another set of names by the national leadership of the party.
The affected states include Lagos, Plateau, Osun, Kwara, Imo, Adamawa, Edo, Taraba, Zamfara, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kogi, Ebonyi, Kano, Delta, Abia, Kaduna, Anambra, Enugu, Ekiti, Kebbi and Akwa Ibom.
The party, it would be recalled, had conducted its governorship, National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) and Houses of Assembly primaries across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja between May 26 to June 8, 2022 and uploaded the names of successful candidates on the INEC portal before the expiration of deadline on June 17.
However, the candidates whose names were earlier submitted to INEC were jolted by the presentation of another lists to the electoral body by the national leadership which announced that the candidates earlier presented were merely ‘placeholders’ and had voluntarily withdrawn their nominations.
According to the letter written to INEC titled: “Notice of Withdrawal and Date of Primaries” dated 2nd August, 2021, made available to BH by the aggrieved candidates, the national leadership of LP informed INEC of its intention to hold substitution primary elections to produce the candidates of the party for the governorship, National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly in the 2023 general elections.
The letter was jointly signed by the National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure and National Secretary, Umar Farouk Ibrahim.
Buoyed by the letter, some state chapters of the have gone ahead to elect new sets of candidates for the general elections, while others are in the process of conducting their own primaries where new candidates would emerge.
However, the attempt by the party to surreptitiously change the names of candidates earlier submitted to INEC has met with stiff opposition from the aggrieved candidates who accused the party of forging their letters of withdrawal.
One of the affected candidates, Sunday Achurefe, who had emerged as the Labour Party’s candidate for Agege 1 Constituency, Lagos State House of Assembly at the primaries held on May 26, informed our correspondent that he was shocked when he saw a letter written by the state chapter of LP announcing another round of primaries to produce its governorship and House of Assembly candidates.
“I was preparing for the election proper when I suddenly learnt that our names had been replaced by the national leadership of the party.
“How is that possible? I spend several millions of naira to get to this stage. And out of no where, the party is announcing that am no longer its candidate. Where is that done?
“What even baffled me is that they (party leaders) claimed that I signed an oath before a competent court of jurisdiction to withdraw from the race.
“Please, help me ask them when and where I signed the affidavit. This is a clear case of forgery. It must not go unpunished. We are already in court to correct the anomaly”, declared Achurefe who spoke on behalf of affected candidates.
The letter written to INEC by the Lagos state chapter dated 5th August, was signed by the state Chairman Olukayode Salako and Secretary, Sam Okpala.
BH reliably gathered that the names of the 40 candidates earlier presented to INEC had been replaced with new ones.
Apart from the state house of assembly list, the party leadership at the centre also replaced the name of its governorship, Ifagbemi Awamaridi, who had emerged at the May primaries with that of former Peoples Democratic (PDP) chieftain, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour who emerged the winner of the substitution primaries held on August 10.
The Deputy National Chairman of LP, Bashiru Apapa, had earlier announced that Awamaridi had written formally to withdraw from the race.
However, Awamaridi refused to concede his mandate, maintaining that he had not withdrawn from contesting as the party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 elections.
“I call the substitution primary conducted on Wednesday a comedy because it was against the new Electoral Act to substitute a candidate without his withdrawal notice to the INEC.
“If it were to be the substitution in the old Electoral Act, after conducting primaries, the party in its wisdom can change the candidate that won without his or her consent.
“Then, there is always a window for substitution which is different from the window for withdrawal, and the window for substitution is where you can substitute without withdrawal.
“However, the window for withdrawal is different but the new Electoral Act has nullified that because this new act now says that once you have conducted primaries supervised by INEC, you are automatically the candidate.
“What can change it is death and even the withdrawal must not be under duress. Besides, I had gone to court to declare that I have not withdrawn and I am not dead but alive, so, what else.
“It was even alleged that some people want to print my obituary and that is what I heard, and I quickly ran to INEC to show myself that I am alive”, Awamaridi stated.
Apart from Lagos, the issue of who is the authentic governorship and Houses of Assembly candidates is raging in 21 other states and has become subject of litigations.
One of the states where crisis is raging is Imo State, where displaced candidates are kicking against their replacement.
One of the aggrieved candidates, Dr. Okorondu Nwachukwu, who had on June 9 emerged Labour Party’s Senatorial candidate for Imo North, has petitioned INEC over the withdrawal of his candidacy by the party leadership.
Nwachukwu is insisting that he is still in the race, denying that he did not at any time withdraw as the senatorial candidate for Imo North Senatorial Zone.
In a petition to the INEC Chairman, Prof.Mahmood Yakubu by his lawyer, Emmanuel Adedeji, titled, ‘Re: Purported withdrawal as candidate of Labour Party for Imo North Senatorial Zone”, Nwachukwu expressed shock that his party wrote to the electoral commission about his purported withdrawal as the candidate of the Labour Party.
“It was brought to the notice of our client that Labour Party wrote a letter to the commission, informing the commission of his withdrawal as the candidate of the Labour Party for Imo North Senatorial Zone, and also informing the commission of the party’s intention to conduct fresh primary election.
“Our client hereby inform the commission that he did not at any time withdraw as the candidate of the Labour Party for Imo North Senatorial Zone, and that he never wrote any letter of withdrawal nor depose to any affidavit in support of any letter of withdrawal.
“Our client was shocked when he discovered that some persons concocted plans to mislead the commission into believing that he has withdrawn as the candidate of the Labour Party for Imo North Senatorial Zone.
“Our client state unequivocally that the purported letter of withdrawal and accompanying affidavit (if any was submitted by the party to the commission) were forged.”
Nwachukwu urged INEC to refer his purported letter of withdrawal and accompanying affidavit were forged to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) for investigation.
In Plateau State, a crisis of nomination is also rocking the state chapter of the party. The name of Ambassador Yohanna Margif, who emerged as LP’s governorship candidate for the 2023 election at a primary held on June 9 in Jos, was replaced with that of Dr. Patrick Dakum who won the August 7 substitution primaries.
However, Margif is not going down without a fight. According to the former envoy, he remains the authentic flag bearer of the party in the state.
He also urged people of the state to disregard anyone parading himself as the new candidate of the party.
Addressing newsmen in Jos, Margif said that some individuals had approached him “requesting that I relinquish the hard earned ticket to them, but being the serious minded politician that I am, I felt it will be unwise to toy with the party mandate and the peoples trust hence my stern refusal to grant their wishes.
“Surprisingly, while I was strategically going on with my campaigns, my attention was drawn to a purported and illegal primary election by some disgruntled political elements who disguised themselves as members of Labour Party in Plateau State in which one Dr. Patrick Dakum emerged as my replacement.
“While I find that Kangaroo arrangement, which is obviously borne out of desperation laughable, it is imperative I set the records straight. I wish to state clearly that I am the only and authentic governorship candidate of Labour Party in Plateau State.
“I wish to state clearly that I have not in any way contemplated withdrawing from the 2023 governorship election in Plateau State and I will not withdraw from the race.
“I am in the contest to win the election and give Plateau people good governance that will enthrone development.
“I am not in the contest to withdraw, and the ticket of Labour Party in Plateau State is not for sale. Therefore, those who are clamouring for the ticket and misleading gullible Plateau people and Nigerians that I have withdrawn from the race should desist forthwith,” he said.
Margif insistence on holding on to the ticket has drawn the wrath of his party leadership who expelled him of anti-party activities.
“This is to inform the general public that the former gubernatorial candidate of Labour Party in Plateau Sate, Amb. Yohanna Margif, has been expelled from the Party. This follows series of criminal acts committed by the said Margif.
“The party could no longer condone the high level of criminal activities of Margif, hence the party was left with no option than to evoke the provisions of the
“The Bokkos Local Government Labour Party and Margif Ward where the said Yohanna Margif held from; the Executive endorse his expulsion from the Party.
“Anyone who transact any business with him on behalf of the Party, does this at his/her risk”, the party’s state exco warned in a letter made available to BH.
The crisis, political analysts told BH, could jeopardise the chances of its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi.
“His (Obi) camp is in a fix on who to deal with among the contending candidates. I was informed by a close aide of the LP presidential candidate in Lagos that his principal is confused on who to recognise between Awamaridi and Rhodes-Vivour.
“Initially, Obi’s camp was dealing with Awamaridi, but was threatened by Rhodes-Vivour’s men who warned that they may withdraw their support for Obi if he did not recognise Rhodes-Vivour as the authentic candidate in Lagos.
“I learnt that the same scenario is playing out in virtually all the 22 crisis-riden states. The loser surely will be Obi, as most of the candidates presented by the LP for the NASS and states houses of assemblies are just pretenders. The real deal is Obi who has an outside chance of springing a surprise”, declared Olu Johnson, a public affairs analyst.
