From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) in Imo State, Ambrose Onyekwere has said the party is fast growing in the state because of the massive followership of its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi. He anticipates the party will do very well in the state in next year’s general elections as it keeps winning more support groups as well as massive defection from other parties.
How is Labour Party fairing in Imo?
Labour Party is doing well, we are growing and increasing by population every day; it’s the party everybody wants to belong including even big time politicians in the state; we are quite happy about the level of acceptance in Imo. I bet you; it’s the most popular party in the state now.
People say your party might not be able to scale the hurdle of rigging and protect its votes in the coming elections; what’s your take?
As much as I know, with the new Electoral Act and method of transmission of results from the polling booths to INEC offices, rigging will substantially reduce and rigging is impossible and remember we have a mass movement to our advantage, and I believe we would have landslide victory all through in Imo State and every other state of the federation.
We’re really enjoying the mass movement, for example, we have about 30 support groups pledging their alliance and support to Labour Party.
What’s the extent of defection from other parties to your party?
It has been massive, the mass movement has played a great impact and the manifesto of our presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi is giving us new converts from other parties; virtually all aggrieved members from the two main political parties in the country have defected to Labour Party, all of them after their various problems arising from their primaries have realised that Labour Party is the party of the masses and we are still welcoming new defectors. They’re asking for positions and we are not saying no to them; our arms are quite open to welcome them.
I can’t tell you the number of defectors we’ve had so far but be rest assured that we have a good number of politicians that can do us proud during the elections.
We have those people you call big fishes in large numbers among the defectors. Most of them contesting under our party are influential and have what it takes to win elections.
Can these candidates your party is parading match the qualities of Peter Obi?
We have good candidates and all of them have good names and pedigree; that is all that I can tell you for now.
How is your party preparing for the elections?
We are preparing seriously, we are not leaving any stone unturned, we’re embarking on mobilisation of members from ward, local government and the state, that is what we are preoccupied with now; in fact, we are running shot of registration tags because of the numbers that are daily registering with us; our support groups are also busy with voter education. They spent time telling people how to get their PVCs before the exercise ended.
People in the South East see Peter Obi as their front runner in the presidential contest, so do you enjoy support from Ohanaeze?
Well, our party is having coalition all over the country with workers, and all those who believe in true change, from the North, South, East and West, not just all about Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
Ohanaeze is an organisation of Ndigbo, we can’t deny we are all from Igbo land but it’s not an ethnic thing; Peter Obi is not running because of Ndigbo alone, he is focusing to change the trend of things in Nigeria; he wants to be a president for all not just Ndigbo, he has a great task of tackling poverty in the country, the insecurity bedeviling our nation; that is what he is interested in.
There is this rumour that many of Governor Hope Uzodimma’s men defected to your party, and most of them planted as moles for the governor to hijack the Labour Party, how true is this?
We’ve heard that rumour and that is why we have our eyes on the ground, we’re presently studying those names mentioned from the governor’s side and to see how they comply with our rules. We have equally asked our members in the rural areas to spy on them and their activities but I think that could be blackmail either from the government or those who want to disparage the candidates.
How about a situation where a candidate who defected to your party wins election and returns to his party later on?
If somebody picks a ticket under the party and wins, do you think he can go back, if they win as Labour Party and the party becomes the ruling party, would they like to be trailing behind?