Oyo State chapter of the Labour Party, has described as false claims that the party had collapsed its structure into that of the All Progressives Congress in the SouthWest.
Recall that on Monday, some section of the media (not this medium) reported that ahead of the forthcoming presidential and gubernatorial elections in the country, chapters of Labour Party in all the six southwest states had collapsed their structure and declared readiness to work for the candidate of the APC.
Reacting to the claim in a statement made available to newsmen in Ibadan on Monday evening, the chairman of the party in Oyo State, described it as mere figments of the ruling party’s imagination.
“Our attention has been drawn to a news making the round about a purported defection of labour party members in the south west led by one Mr. Banji Omotoso who claimed to be the chairman of labour party in south west.
“We, in labour party Oyo State hereby declare unequivocally that there was no meeting or discussions at any quarters within the south west to collapse the structure of the party with any other party not to talk of APC that brought untold hardship to Nigeria and Nigerians,” the statement, signed by the party’s chairman, Atayese Sadiq, read in part.
The chairman explained that the person who signed the ‘false’ defection statement is Banji Omotoso who was expelled from the party in January 2020 and “already decamped into the same APC during the build up to Ekiti governorship election that took place in June, 2022. Therefore, this new shenanigan is the second time of his decampment.”
He noted that the report is the handiwork of the ruling APC because of their fear about the level of support Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi now receives across the country.
“It is observed that the APC is feeling threatened by the rising popularity of the Labour Party in recent times and knows that it will bring about its downfall in the coming general elections, hence, their gimmick to cause confusion in the minds of party lovers.
“Labour party remains the party for the long-suffering Nigerians and we remain focus at bringing about a New Nigeria that work.
“We implore our members, teeming supporters and the general public to remain calm and continue to encourage others to vote labour party at all levels come February 25th and March 11th, 2023,” he added.
