By Ade Martins-
The Labour Party in Nigeria is in crisis after thee different party representatives for the governorship post were announced in a one week period.
The party which came out of obscurity following the membership of its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, who officially lost the Nigerian election last week. His party is legally challenging the integrity of the results on the grounds of fraud
At the beginning of the week, Labour party chieftain, Fafaa Dan Princewill, announced himself as the candidate of the party which already had Beautrice Itubo registered on INEC as the party flagbearer.
However, given the wide scale of corruption in Nigeria, a number of court cases have overruled the decision of some political parties in assigning the leadership post to certain individuals, and installed others in their place.
Princewill told journalists in Nigeria that Beautrice was intstalled as a ”place holder”, and is for all intents and purposes’, a ”stooge” for the ruling APC party. A stooge is a person acting a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with said person or organization.
The political veteran told Arise News that Ms Itubo was working with former governor, Rotimi Amaechi, of the APC party, highlighting an alleged close and clandestine relationship with the ruling party, while masquerading as a member of the Labour Party.
Itubo subsequently appeared on numerous outlets, insisting she is the authentic flagbearer of the party, only for the head of rivers state branch to surprisingly announce a new candidate from another party, as Labour’s party’s new party candidate.
Denye Pepple, announced today that Siminialayi Fubara ( a former PDP governorship candidate)was to be the Labour Party flagbearer, only for the same party to perform a U turn and dissolve the party, saying he is supporting a young and vibrant candidate from the state’s South-East Senatorial District, which has yet to produce a governor.
Within hours, Julius Abure, the Labour Party’s National Chairman, dissolved the party’s State Executive Council in Rivers State over alleged anti-party activities and corruption in the management of the party’s funds. The unfolding of events began to look comical.
“Those at the helm of affairs in Rivers State when our presidential mandate was openly stolen in Rivers State should step aside until a full investigation into what occurred on that day,” he said.
He was referring to the victory for the APC party in rivers state at the last presidential elections, given the current political war the sitting Governor has with his own PDP party, and the general perception that Wike colluded to establish a victory for the APC party to spite his own PDP people for not granting him a party ticket to campaign for the presidential elections. The idea of
Abure questioned the ability of the State Executive Council, led by Deinye Pepple, to lead the campaign for the March 11 governorship and State House of Assembly elections, but failed to take any responsibility for the level of division in his party of which he is party chairman.
Party leaders in Nigeria at various levels are susceptible to bribery and corruption, making it difficult to always determine the truth in the midst of so many lies.
The electoral body INEC which ought to be the final decider of disputes, have been scarce since the election results were announced , and not updated any of the election results, neither has it left its portal open to make it obvious and beyond dispute who the various party representatives are.
The days leading up to the governorship elections should be revealing, with the likes of Denye Pepple under the microscope for alleged anti pary activities.