Barely three months to the conduct of the Edo State Governorship Election, there seems to be no end in sight to the crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) in the state as suspension and counter-suspension continue to characterise the party ahead of the election.
The latest crisis in the Edo LP is coming less than one week after a caretaker committee was sworn in by the national leadership to take charge of affairs of the party in the state.
The Kelly Ogbaloi-led faction of the LP, last Saturday suspended the chairman of the committee, Mrs Elizabeth Ativie, over alleged gross misconduct and insubordination.
The decision to suspend Ativie, it was gathered was taken at a meeting of the State Working Committee (SWC) attended by local government chairmen and secretaries of the party.
Ativie’s alleged suspension might not be unconnected with the confusion that ensued at a stakeholders meeting organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), where Ativie and Kelly Ogbaloi both claimed to be chairman of Edo Labour Party.
Chairman of the party in Ativie’s Uhunmwonde local government, Mr Aghedo Okhiongbamwonyi said the leadership of her ward 4 had handed out the suspension.
Okhiongbamwonyi presented a letter to the local government, dated 4 May, 2024, signed by Charles Usiesefe and Mike Ighile, ward chairman and secretary respectively, conveying Ativie’s suspension.
Besides, a letter dated 30 May, 2024, which affirmed her suspension by the local government, was tendered before the meeting of the SWC.
But In a swift response, Ativie said she remained the authentic state chairman of Edo Labour Party and that she was not aware of any meeting suspending her.
“It is dead on arrival, I am the current state Labour chairman in Edo state.
“They should know that by the constitution of Labour party, no ward or local government chairman has the authority to suspend anybody or the chairman,” she said.
It would be recalled that 72 hours after Kelly Ogbaloi-led Edo State LP Exco endorsed the suspension of Julius Abure, the embattled party national chairman dissolved Ogbaloi-led State Working Committee and replaced it with a 17-man caretaker committee led by Elizabeth Ativie, the former speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly.
The development, however, polarised the party, creating a gulf between the factions of Julius Abure and Olumide Akpata, the governorship candidate of the party.
ALSO READ: No going back on nationwide strike — Lagos NLC, TUC
