Peter Ameh, is a chieftain of the Labour Party. He was among the champions for a third force to contest the 2023 election against the All Progressives Progress (APC). The Former Chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council spoke with Nigerian Tribune on the development in the Labour Party, Our Assistant Editor Òsárétín Osadebamwen brings you the interview.
For me, as somebody who has been in the Labour Party for long before His Excellency Peter Obi and Dr. Alex Otti came. I think they’ve had a robust bearing on the political landscape of the Labour Party and it’s development and nobody can take it away from Peter Obi, Alex Otti and the rest, what they’ve done so much to change the narrative in the Labour Party as well as popularise it. So, the development of the Labour Party today, especially the stakeholder meeting that was called in Umuahia, was what I am really happy about, because it has shown that party leaders who are committed, who are interested in giving the party a direction, have put their hands on the deck and have pointed to the unifying direction that the party should go. They have made aibe they would allow the party to continue to play its role as a critical opposition political party in the Nigerian political state.
The Party is saying that there is no organ called stakeholders and so it does not recognize the meeting and it is alien to the constitution of the party, needless the issue of raising a parallel structure. This is considered null and void… and cannot stand the test of time. What is your position on this and why?
The issue is that a lot of things why Nigeria has not worked and why most parties made mistakes is because they think that everything must be written in the way they want it written. One of the things you know, there’s always an expanded and exclusive stakeholder process, and you have to be inclusive in the presence that you hear from every person that has the interest of the party at heart. You can’t say a person like me, a former IPAC chairman, a former presidential candidate, is not a stakeholder in a political party. You can’t say that my voice does not need to be heard. That would be like undermining even the opportunity that the party has gone to attract teaching very major people into its own fold. So what we’re saying is that these stakeholders are mixed, but in the line of decision-taking, when a vacuum exists and statutory delegates who remain in the party, decided they want to take a decision.
That does not mean they can’t make a decision. Alex Otti is the only Governor we have, his deputy governor, is the only deputy governor we have. The speaker in Abia state is the only speaker we have in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
ALSO READ:Coalition honours Reps committee chair on Police affairs, Yalleman
We have a lot of assembly candidates spread across the southeast states and some northern and western states. We have a lot of Federal House of Representativesembera spread across. We have senators. So if you look at our constitution, they are part of the delegates of the national convention. So when a vacuum occurs and these other persons who are supposed to be part of the national conventions are not there, like the National Working Committee, the State Working Committee, the Local Government and the Ward Working Committee are not there, then the party will not be able to progress in vacuum.
Those delegates who are statutorily recognized by the convention, who are elected representatives of the party at the polls, should not sit down and now agree on who to lead them, how they will structure the party in the state of necessity?
And don’t forget, it is not His Excellency, the presidential candidate of our party, Mr. Peter Obi and His Excellency the governor of Abia State, Governor, Alex Otti, that is a determining factor of what happens within the political party. It is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who has been mandated by the constitution to be the register of political party and a regulator of political party activity. INEC is both a register and a regulator. So if INEC had written a letter and said, on the convention, we do not participate, we have no report. What does it say?
If INEC had told people that these issues have been discussed, you can have your way. You can contest in the next convention. Half of the people on the other side are my friends.
The party is saying that there is no such communication from INEC that they did not recognize the convention?
You heard what the governor said. Several times we cannot have representation in INEC meetings. INEC does not write. I have been part of the inter-party advisory council (IPAC) before. For INEC, as soon as you tenure elapses, they will stop recognizing you. That is the way INEC does it. Then if you now sue then, they will now present evidence of what they have in court. As far as I am aware, they have been sued. In the next week, we will be able to see the INEC response to what they feel over Labour Party EXCO tenure is ended. You will see it in court. So that is what INEC does.
How come that right now I am looking at the website of INEC, of all political parties. For Labour Party it has Barr. Julius Abure as the National Chairman of the Party, Farouk as the national secretary. Cuts
You have Hadiza Kissimi there. You have Oluchi Okpara there, You have Akinbade there. Ask Abure or Olufemi, if Akibade is their national legal advisor. Akibade is not their national legal advisor. Their national legal advisor is Kehinde Edun. Ask them if Oluchi Okpara is still a member of the National Association Committee. You know now that Oluchi Okpara is not a member. These are not subject to competition. Hajiya Akissimi left our party in 2017.
With all this, do you see the possibility of a division? If this crisis persists, do you see the possibility of a division where the Obidient movement would move out of the party and ignite others to follow?
I believe that within a short time even those who are on the other side will in the next one or two will join to resolve the issue and will come to the reality that we must put ourselves together to work with the technical committee to push the party forward.
I believe they will see. And don’t forget what the excellency said, Peter Obi, that everybody is allowed to contest in the next convention. They are just trying to make sure that if you must bear excellency in your name, the process that throws you up must be excellent in its entirety. So they are all qualified to contest. They are bonafide leaders of the party.
I don’t think we should conduct a war. We should think of how to unite. And the Obidient movement that you are talking about, the Obidient movement, the founder and the reason why Obidient exists is Peter Obi.
If you go to social media, they will troop out after the technical committee, the Obidient will clearly say that Peter Obi will win, we shall go. So Peter Obi has taken this decision, not because he hates these people, but because in the interest of saving our party. One thing remains everybody, all of us in this party are still friends. But he is my friend.
And one of them is my brother. We are all friends. We are all one big family.
And I know that yes, we will be in a short possible, in a very short time, where we will be capable of resolving this issue and making sure that people see that the best way to go is to reorganize, re-strengthen and re-strategize towards 2027, by making sure that the party has a proper structure, proper mechanism that is needed to drive a political party process that is willing to govern this country.
So for you, you did not see anything wrong with the expanded technical committee, given the reservation of the party?
It is the right way of resolving the issues in the party. It was very expanded. Invitation was offered to everybody. It was offered to everybody, that everybody must come, let’s talk. Party is not built in isolation, it is built with a collective agenda which is all hands on deck now. Critical stakeholders have taken steps to restore the party, Alex Otti is the only governor we have.
You can’t take it away that the joy of what we benefit today was brought upon our party through the popularity, the integrity and the competence of Mr. Peter. You can’t take that away. These are facts that cannot be said to be an undiluted fact.
