The Labour Party (LP) on Wednesday said that with the growing support the party is enjoying nationwide, the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, will sweep the poll, come February 25 and his administration will lead to fresh breath for Nigeria.

This was just as the party also boast that it was set to win Lagos State in the governorship poll held in March this year and form the next government in the state.

The national legal adviser of the party, Barr. Akingbade Oyelekan made this declaration during the inauguration of a 25-member Caretaker Committee of the Labour Party, Lagos State chapter headed by Pst. (Mrs.) Dayo Ekong, and witnessed by a representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which took place at Allen Avenue in the Ikeja area of the state.

Other members of the newly inaugurated exco are: Pastor Lanre Adenuga (Deputy Chairman), Sam Emeka Okpala (Secretary), and Lady (Pst.) Funke Awolowo (Deputy Zonal Chairman), Hon. Dauda Kayode Yusuf (Deputy Zonal Chairman), Lady Jennifer Ukachi (Treasurer), Barr. Abbas Ibrahim (Legal Adviser), Hajia Amina Agnes (Woman Leader), and Olubena Abiodun (Youth Leader), among others.

The Lagos chapter of the party had been embroiled in internal wrangling ahead of the forthcoming polls, but Oyelekan affirmed that there existed no faction within the fold in the state anymore, declaring that LP would spring surprise both in the presidential and gubernatorial elections in Lagos.

Oyelekan, who inaugurated the caretaker committee on behalf of the national body, expressed confidence that LP was positioned to win the elections, noting that Lagos was sensitive in the country, a development which he said necessitated the seriousness attached to the newly constituted body in the state.

“I recall about five months ago, I was here to inaugurate the then exco but we have a new exco that will take the party to the next level. For the first time, Labour Party is the first to be gender sensitive in every part of the country, and Lagos will not be an exception.

“I want to state emphatically that the inauguration of the caretaker committee today is the final and got the approval of the national leadership and the chairman. No exco exists outside what we have done today. The Dayo Ekong led- exco is authentic, and disregards any other faction.

“Lagos is a fundamental base for Labour Party now. This is why we have to put our house to win the presidential election. I’m aware we have contenders, but the anointing one is the Labour Party candidate,” he said.

“They claim we don’t have structure but now our structure is all over the world. Please go and work because, by the time we are done, we want to get Lagos 100 per cent,” he added.

In her acceptance speech, the newly inaugurated chairman, Pst. Ekong expressed her appreciation to the party leadership and members of the Lagos exco, saying history was being made with the gender-sensitive body that would steer the affairs of the Labour Party in the state as, according to her, it is the first time a woman would be heading any political party in Lagos.

Ekong, who also affirmed that there is no faction in the LP in Lagos, assured that she was set to work and run an all-inclusive administration to bring about peace and also ensure victory for the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Obi, the governorship candidate, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes- Vivour, and others in the forthcoming polls that would usher in a new dispensation in Nigeria.

“I want to assure Nigerians, it is a new dispensation we are bringing to Nigeria. A Nigeria where mama, baba and “pipkins” can sleep with their eyes closed, there would be a problem.

“Labour Party will be No 1 in Lagos State, I want to assure you. I want to assure youths, you have our backing. No more time for a 4- year course going for seven years. Nigeria is ready for you, and everything would be made available to make your businesses thrive,” she assured.

Ekong, therefore, called on Nigerians to join hands together to make Nigeria work, even as she further assured that the Labour Party if voted into office in the coming polls, would return the country’s old glory that would encourage the majority of the youth that had left Nigeria to return.

Meanwhile, the LP Chairman, Pst. Ekong has frowned at what she described as harassment of party members by opposition parties, urging that it was better to allow peace to reign in the state.

The party chieftain, while calling for a stop to such harassment and oppression, vowed that the party would “ensure that no member of Labour Party is harassed in Lagos State anymore.” (Nigerian Tribune)

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