Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Olumide Akpata, formally declared his intention to vie for the Edo State governorship seat in the September 21, 2024, elections under the banner of the Labour Party (LP).
Akpata, who was at the Edo State secretariat of the party on Ogbelaka Street, Benin City, late Thursday evening, said that he decided to join the gubernatorial race using LP as the platform because the party remained the only “people-oriented” party in the country.
Accompanied by a mammoth crowd of supporters and LP members across the 18 local government areas of the state, the former NBA President noted that with the formal declaration, all speculations about his governorship ambition and the vehicle he would use to actualize it had been permanently laid to rest.
Addressing the crowd after a closed-door meeting with the state executive council members of the party, Akpata said that his interest in the people of the state informed his choice of the LP as the only means through which the people could liberate themselves from the shackles of politicians who had held them down and retarded the progress of the state.
Lamenting that the people had been taken out of the equation in governance and politics, Akpata said that if given the opportunity to fly the flag of LP in the forthcoming election, he would change the narrative and give the people a new lease on life.
“My interest is for the people of Edo State. And what I find out about politics and governance in Nigeria today is that the people have been taken out of the equation. Nobody cares about the people.
“So, when I look around, the only party I find to be people-oriented and interested in lots of our people is the Labour Party. So I have come here to express my interest and to carry the people along,” he declared.
Akpata promised to take the Labour Party to greater heights in the event that he emerged as the party’s candidate in the primary.
Receiving the aspirant, the Edo State Chairman of the party, Mr Kelly Ogbaloi, said the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party had accepted to allow Akpata to run, just as he promised a level playing field for all aspirants who would be desirous to run under the platform of the party.
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