From Sola Ojo, Abuja

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, on Friday mocked the Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, asking him to join the trending coalition party fast, to enable the party to restructure itself ahead of the 2027 round of elections.

Abure in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, said that Otti cannot pretend to be loyal to the Labour Party while his like-minded have left.

The Abia State governor had recently said that he is still a member of the Labour Party and will not join the coalition party.
“Our attention has been drawn to Otti’s interview where he that he is still a member of the Labour Party. We are not going to fall for his deception again.

“How can he be in the Labour Party when recently he conducted the local government election in Abia State with Zenith Labour Party as his party?

“He should not think that every Nigerian is bereft of knowledge. He formed and he is funding the illegal caretaker committee that had formally joined the ADC. The icing on the cake was the Wednesday unveiling of the coalition where every member of the caretaker committee formally joined the ADC.

“We are shocked that Otti is paradoxically trying to mislead members of the Labour Party to say that he is still a member of the Labour Party. In any event, we had earlier suspended him indefinitely from the party because of his anti-party activities.

“Labour Party is on the move again, we have the best brand in Nigeria and we are eager to engage young Nigerians who have the interest of the nation at heart. We are therefore willing to let go of everyone, no matter how high, whose interest in Nigeria is self-driven, opportunistic politicians who are not principled.

“Labour Party is not and cannot be in any coalition because coalitions of political parties are ideologically bereft. It is a marriage of political strange fellows whose only agenda is power grabbing. It is selfish, and no true Democrat will agree to such an amalgam. The Labour Party is therefore in a hurry to sanitise itself of people without character.

“It is on this note that I call on Dr. Alex Otti to move on because he cannot be in the Labour Party and be working against the party”, the statement read in part.