Abia State: Labour Party to lose its only governorship seat in Nigeria

Information reaching Diaspora Digital Media has it that the Labour Party (LP) in Nigeria is on the verge of losing its only state governorship seat in the country -Abia.

DDM has gathered that the Abia Governor, Alex Otti, is currently negotiating to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Out of 36 states in the federation, APC is in control of 19.

Otti’s expected defection is hinged on his loss of grip of the party in the state.

The party’s woes heightened in November 2023 when it won no seat in the Local Government Chairmanship election.

Dr Otti was elected on the Labour Party platform

According to results announced by the Chairman of the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC), Prof George Chima, at the commission’s headquarters in Umuahia, the state capital, the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) clinched 15 Chairmanship seats, while the Young Progressives Party (YPP) won two seats.

The chairmen and some House of Assembly members are said to be at logger-heads with Otti.

Some sources however say Otti is secretly romancing with the local government chairmen, seeking to lure them to move with him to APC.

With no stable national leadership and factionalized state chapters, LP is a house in crisis.

The party has been embroiled by multiple crisis before and after the 2023 presidential election which it lost.

It was also gathered that Mr Otti has been fraternising with some APC bigwigs secretly. This relationship is been kept away from the public glare in order not to heighten political tension.

“Governor Otti is in deed fraternising with some APC bigwigs. There are strong indication he might defect to the ruling party any moment.

“The lure of national politics and relevance is driving him crazy. He wants soft landing,” our source said.

Mayors deny defection rumour

This is coming after the Mayors of the 17 Local Government Areas of Abia State denied report purporting that they have concluded plans to defect to the All Progressives Congress at the end of their tenure in office.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Abia State Chapter, Elelenta Nwambuisi Elele, Mayor of Isialangwa South LGA and ALGON Secretary, Chief Eric Achi Egwuibe, Mayor of Obingwa, and fifteen other mayors, the group stated that there is no iota of truth in the news story.

They added that a meeting purported to have been held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by the 17 mayors, where the alleged decision to defect to the APC was taken, was just a figment of the “news peddler’s” imagination.

The statement reads, “To clarify once again, there was never a time when mayors were sacked by Chioma ndi Abia, Governor Otti.

“The authors of the publication have exhibited a complete lack of knowledge of the laws of the land, knowing fully well that Governor Otti is a staunch advocate of democratic and legal norms.

“The outgoing 17 mayors were invited by His Excellency to assist in rescuing our state and to lay a solid foundation for effective and efficient local government administration in the state.

“There was never a time any agreement whatsoever was brokered to railroad them into elected chairmen. It is therefore fallacious to simulate deceit for a process that has successfully met the provisions of the extant laws of Abia State

“The mayors are busy joining hands with Governor Otti in taking Abia closer to the desired destination of becoming a model state, while preparing for a seamless handover to the incoming chairmen, and will not allow themselves to be distracted by unfounded social media rumours.

“We are aware that there are desperate politicians lurking around to see whom they can devour. Fortunately, the present crop of mayors are not mercantile politicians and are therefore not transactional in their quest to serve the people of Abia State.

“We are indeed grateful to His Excellency for the opportunity given to us to serve, and we pledge our unwavering support to him in the delivery of the Abia project.”

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