By Tony Adibe
The Labour Party in the Southeast zone of Nigeria has made a clarion call to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government on the urgent need to quickly arrest the increasing rate of insecurity in the area before it would become full-blown and out of control.
This was part of the seven-point resolutions reached at the end of a one-day Southeast Stakeholders’ Summit of the Labour Party and Support Groups held at Kobb Event Centre, Enugu. Themed, “Road Map 2023 Election – Path to Victory,” the summit was hosted by the National Vice Chairman, Southeast Zone of Labour Party, Chief Innocent Okeke and was attended by the critical stakeholders of the party, the members of the National Working Committee (NWC), all the candidates of the party, the Obidient family and all the support groups in the southeast.
“We decry the incessant killings of Labour Party members and supporters in the country especially the recent murder of Labour Party House of Assembly candidate in Onuimo Local Government Area of Imo state, in the person of Late Mr Christopher Eleghu and the current massacre in Isiuzo Local Government Area of Enugu state,” cried out the participants, who called on the federal government to tackle the insecurity in the region before it would affect the general elections in 2023.
Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC), Chief Chiedozie Ezeugwu, who read the 2-page Communique, said the summit also noted with regret the “rising insecurity challenges in the entire Southeast states, apparently promoted by elements outside Southeast, and the negative impacts it will have on the voters’ turnout during the forthcoming General Elections.” But the summit could not provide proof to establish the veracity of the claim that the “rising insecurity in the zone was promoted by elements outside the southeast.”
The participants, however, called on “the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammed Buhari, to use his good offices to direct all security architecture, as was done in the past with the Northeast in 2015 elections, to arrest the rising security challenges in the Southeast.”
They also formally endorsed the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi as the official presidential candidate of Ndigbo, and called on all Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations to vote him as the next President of Nigeria.
“This will further enthrone justice, equity and fairness in the political equation of Nigeria,” the stakeholders said.
Part of the resolutions, among other things read: ”At the end of the highly interactive Summit, the participants resolved as follows; “To formally endorse Mr Peter Obi as the official Presidential Candidate of Ndi Igbo, and call on all Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliations to vote him as the next President of Nigeria.
“This will further enthrone justice, equity and fairness in the political equation of Nigeria. To vote all Labour Party candidates in the upcoming general elections and urge all Igbo community leaders and party faithfuls to work hard in ensuring that every PVC is collected by eligible voters that will vote Peter obi and LP candidates en mass in the 2023 General Elections.
“To call on INEC to put better structures in place to remove the bottlenecks associated with PVC collection and also remove the dateline attached to it’s collection. That INEC should as matter of urgency print the PVC of over ten million registrants across the country so as not to disenfranchise eligible voters who are in the last batch. The summit also unanimously resolves to set up elections management taskforce to coordinate all elections in the southeast.
“The summit while passing vote of confidence on the National Chairman Barr Julius Abure and the members of his NWC, Appreciate the National Vice Chairman of Labour Party Southeast, Chief Innocent Okeke, Chief Chidozie Ezeugwa, Dr. Ifedi Okwenna, Amb. Nnamdi Chukwu, Hon. Chimamkpa Anyamkpa, Dr Emeka Mandela, Chief Godson Okoye, Chief Cletus Ohanta, Dr. Kach Ononuju, for their unalloyed contributions in making this Summit a success.”
Earlier, the summit had noted the urgent need to mobilize the entire Southeast to go collect their PVCs preparatory to 2023 general elections. Also, the summit observed equally the urgent need to mobilize all eligible voters to work and to vote Peter Obi in the February 25, 2023, Presidential Elections, irrespective of any interests and party affiliations.
Furthermore, the participants noted the “INEC inability to put effective structures in place for people to collect their PVC seamlessly and the need to remove the dateline (deadline) on the collection of PVCs. We are reliably informed, and we note that as at today, INEC is yet to complete the printing of the last batch of ten million registrants of voters in the country.”
