Labour Party crisis: Abians declare firm support for Gov Otti 

Abia masses, indigenes, and residents have declared their unalloyed support for the state governor, Dr. Alex Otti, for the umpteenth time due to his excellent job since he took the oath of office on May 29, 2023. 

The people who actually voted for Otti and subsequently defended their votes when identifiable antidemocratic forces moved to truncate that hard-earned victory said, despite the crisis currently rocking the Labour Party, they are still with Otti.

“I am quite sure you must have heard, read, or watched the news that filtered out of a high court with the indication that Comrade Julius Abure is returned as Labour party chairman. It means that the oligarchy has crept into the LP the same way it attacked the PDP.

“We are not bothered about what the court ruled. However, we stand by Otti. He is our political party, he is our structure and our compass. We shall follow as well as identify with him wherever he goes or pitches his tent”, Kalu Udoma Kalu, a critic, submitted.

The National Working Committee, NWC, of the LP, invoking the party’s constitutional provisions, after due deliberations and consultations, moved for the election of a new acting national chairperson, Sen Nenadi Usman, a former senator. That deft move orchestrated by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, His Excellency, Peter Obi, and the governor of Abia State, Otti, democratically, relieved Abure of his position of national chairman.

Abure who was the national secretary of LP was elevated to the high-ranking position of the party in 2021 by the National Executive Committee, NEC. He supervised the electioneering of the party en route to the 2023 presidential election.

However, at the expiration of his tenure, Abure refused to conduct an election for his successor to emerge. “His body language and actors indicated that of a dictator who wanted to stay in power forever.

“We resisted it. How we did it was to bring all the relevant organs of the party, responsible for giving the party a new national leader together. And we confirmed Usman the acting national chairperson. And now, again, the court, I mean the court, has set aside the aspiration of our great party. It is sad but we must fashion out a way to surmount the present challenges”, Nwaka Onyenuche stated.

He maintained that, for Abure to have been returned by the court was an eye opener that the establishment that never condoled any opposition like the LP was the one sowing the seeds of discord in the party.

According to him, “Otti is the only LP governor in Nigeria and he has been doing very well. His testimony re echoes all over the country. The people of Abia are solidly behind him. To frustrate him is to put a spanner in the wheels of progress in the work he is doing.

“Of course, you know he is encouraged to organize local government elections in the state. But enemies of progress didn’t want this to happen. Therefore, they colluded with those who did not wish Abia well to put confusion in the LP to make things very difficult for Otti. But they have failed as our support is still for the former bank guru”, Onyenuche added.

In order not to fall into the political snare carefully planted as a landmine, Otti and his think tanks are tinkering about what to do next, perhaps adopting the Governor Simi Fubara template in Rivers for the much-talked-about LGA/ council elections in the state.

“The fact of the matter is, Otti is a man of principle whose word is his bond. He wants to truly democratize governance at the grassroots level, that is, local governments. Not just because of the supreme court judgment on council autonomy, which is a part of it, but most essentially, because he believes in the fiscal freedom of the LGAs. If he does this, his political opponents know that 2027 will be hard for them to crack, hence, they are fighting hard to thwart that lofty dream”, Ikenna Chiadi, a political economist, noted.

All through the streets of and roads of Abia State, one slogan that is now very popular as it is on the lips of all and sundry is, “We stand by Otti”. This is the singsong. It is now a signature signal and a new anthem the masses coined to inform all who care to listen that no matter what becomes of the Labour Party following the appeal by the sacked Usman and her fashion, the people, are with Otti, his government, and all that he represents.