If the recent imbroglio and infighting within the State Exco of Labour Party in Cross River State is not nib in the bud early enough, it will destroy the very fabric of the party where key individuals with their hard-earned resources spent time to build. It is based on this development that the Integrity Group of the Labour Party spoke with our reporter cautioning the members of the state executive to put an end to the infighting happening in the party to rest for the best interest of all.
Addressing our correspondent, the leadership of Integrity Group Comr. Anthony Edu advised the aggrieved chieftains to follow the laid down procedures and not continue to heat the polity in the state as observed in the Party in the now. Let’s not continue to pretend that nothing is happening whereas a lot have gone wrong. Those fighting the chairman today were his first eleven. What went wrong? We have all seen what they wrote about him and in a political fight such as this, they will only succeed in stirring the hornet nest and what will follow will not be too healthy for the party. This is the party where we have a little ounce of sanity but what is playing out is more of personal interest. We have made several attempts to reach the chairman to no avail, and we believe that this will be a call to reason and prompt action.
Edu continued, I have read the constitution and the provisions are very clear on how to remove the chairman of the party which is through a congress, or he is suspended at his political ward. So far, none of these processes was followed, so where did they draw their strength from to suspend him? For me, if this is what they want, they can start the process, but now the national had written to them condemning in strong terms that the suspension was null and void. One would expect that those fighting the State Chairman should have respected the National Chairman because Party is Supreme. I make bold to say that there is something fishy.
The chairman has refused to comment on these, he has deliberately refused to join issues with those fighting him. If this is how we want to operate as a party, then electoral victory is still far from us as a party in the state. We need the synergy, we need everyone to be on the same page, working for the common goal.
From our assessment, the State Chairman has tried his best. He is the first State Chairman in LP to create a physical structure in all the eighteen chapters and wards even before the general election. He encouraged most of the Political weights in the state to join the party which enabled the party to win over the incumbent party and all the big parties at the presidential and in some of the national assembly elections despite the visible manipulations that took place that affected some of our results.
Today, most of our principal officers that contested the elections are in court to retrieve our mandate. This is when we need to demonstrate our support and not start fighting with each other. This is the time we need to evaluate the elections and find out what we didn’t do well and how we need to do them differently.
This is when we need to set up a panel to investigate the roles of critical stakeholders and what they did and didn’t do, operation show us your report card and let us know whether you delivered or not.
What is happening now is too selfish and too unreasonable, to say the least. Whence their conscience in all of these? They did not contest the election yet the behaviour exhibited is worrisome and frightening. We are compelled to ask where their interest lies. Aside from the attacks and all other inconsequential things posted on the various platforms, what are we doing to help our principals that are in court? Have we sat down to review the elections? What are our findings? What can we do as a party to make our principals win their cases in court? I feel so saddened with what I am seeing, hence we are calling on all the parties to kindly show leadership and addressed all their differences immediately for the interest of all.
It is common knowledge that a faction of the state executive led by the Vice Chairman South, Bishop Archibong and others had called for the suspension of the state chairman, Amb. Ogar Osim where they accused him of running a unilateral administration, and lack of transparency among others. According to the suspension letter which was sent to the national, which the 17Chapter Chairmen of the party signed, the response from the national was not too favourable to the vanguard of Osim’s removal, hence their desire to have him ousted from office was truncated.
The concern raised by the letter has it that the suspension did not follow the constitutional provision as enshrined in the constitution. Unfortunately for the party’s chieftain, the letter from the national rather adjudged the Cross River State outing of the Presidential Campaign of Mr Peter Obi as one of the best in the country to their chagrin.
We believe that the concern raised by the Cross River State Labour Party Integrity Group will be the spur of the moment to make the critical stakeholders heed to reason and jettison all ounces of issues bedevilling the party in the state.
