By Rasaq Adebayo
Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State has been jotted with a fresh crisis as new faction of executive members under the leadership of Omoba Adesoyin Olumide emerged on Friday, drowning Pastor Dayo Ekong-led Executive Committee (Exco), stressing that its tenure had elapsed and, therefore, should not parade itself anymore.
Chairman of the faction, Omoba Olumide, stated this at a press conference in Ikeja attended by all his exco members, noting that the Ekong-led exco was no longer recognized by law, following the sack by the court of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party under Barr. Julius Abure, who appointed it into office.
According to him, it is public knowledge that Abure was suspended by members of his ward in Edo State in April 2023, the reason Alhaji Bashiru Lamidi Apapa was called upon to take over the leadership, being the next in line, to rescue the party, recalling quickly that the embattled Abure “appealed his suspension at the Appeal Court but lost and the case is now listed in the Supreme Court awaiting proceedings and judgment.”
Olumide posited that it was based on the court judgement that he and his team were given a letter by the Acting Chairman, Alhaji Apapa in April this year to act and perform as the executive committee of the Labour Party in Lagos State for three months period in consonance with the constitution, noting that the three months period expired this month of July and had since been renewed by the party’s national body.
“After the restraining order on our party national chairman, Abure, on matters bordering forgery, perjury and criminal conspiracy in April 2023, myself and my team were given a letter by the authority of the now Acting Chairman, Lamidi Apapa, in April to act and perform as the executives of our party in Lagos State for three months in consonance with the constitution.
“The three months period expired this month of July and has since been renewed by our national body,” he said.
The party chieftain said notwithstanding the party’s laid down rules and regulations, among others, the Ekong-led exco had been “going about parading themselves as the state executives of the party in manners that is rather alien to our party’s constitution,” adding that the need to maintain Labour Party’s respectable name made his exco-led to approach an Ikeja High Court to put them in check.
Olumide warned members of the public to be wary of their dealings with the Abure-led body, saying that courts of competent jurisdiction in both Benin and Abuja had warned Nigerians that anyone still having any dealings with them, does so at his or her own peril.
“It has become necessary to warn members of the public to be wary of their dealings with them as courts of competent jurisdiction in both Benin and Abuja have warned Nigerians that anyone still having any dealings with them, does so at his or her own peril,” he warned.
Olumide also used the opportunity to debunk claims in some quarters that Apapa and his group were working for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), even as he insisted that there was no faction in Lagos LP as, according to him, his Exco remained “the authentic one that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will deal with.”
This was just as he assured that the LP would win the forthcoming House of Representatives bye-election in Surulere 1 Constituency of the state, which date is yet to be fixed.
On the anti-people policies of the Federal and state governments which were obviously and negatively affecting the welfare and well-being of Nigerians, the LP chieftain urged the tiers of government to urgently look at ways of reversing them, saying that the Lagos State government should revisit the Light Blue Rail Project to ensure ease of public transportation all over the state.
Besides, Otunba Olumide tasked the Lagos government to urgently consider addressing the regular harassment of motorists, especially by LASMA, VIO and other agencies, even as he sadly noted the decay in the infrastructure of the inner streets in Lagos metropolis which “has become alarming and requires the urgent attention of the state government and major stakeholders.”
“In addition to the above the Federal and state governments should reconsider the hike in tuition fees for Unity Schools and that of the universities, polytechnic and colleges of education as education is the bedrock of any society.
“We’ll advise the state government to adequately compensate the families of Lagosians who lost their lives during the #Endsars crisis and tender a public apology to their relatives,” Olumide said.
