2023 Polls: Labour Party Will Do Well -Party Chair
7 min read
As 2023 general elections draw closer, political parties are drawing very daring targets, with a view to winning the elections. The Labour Party (LP) is equally upbeat, that they will do well in the elections. The Cross River State chapter chairman, Ambassador Ogar Osim told GODWIN AJOM in Calabar, that he was optimistic that Peter Obi will win the presidential elections.
Excerpts:
How ready is your party for the general elections here in Cross River State?
Election is in the hands of the people. The success of every election is the masses and I believe you are very much aware that Labour Party(LP) is on ground. You can confirm this in our first two city walks and also, we just concluded a campaign rally in the state. You could see that we have the numerical strength. The number you saw in the stadium that day is just a fraction of the supporters of Peter Obi in Cross River State. Even all those people you see in those other political parties, they are just there for survival. They are already tired of the system. They are already yearning for a change and the only person that can bring such change today is Peter Obi. So Cross River state is fully ready for the elections and even if it’s to be held today, His Excellency Peter Obi is winning the election, here and at the national level.
How many votes are you targeting from Cross River State for your presidential and governorship candidates?
The Peter Obi election comes up first and after that, we have a space of almost two weeks before the gubernatorial elections. So if he should emerge, you will know what will happen in the states. And we are optimistic that we would get up to 70 per cent.
You are your party’s governorship candidate in Cross River State but we are not hearing anything from you on your plans and programmes for the state. Why?
There is a saying that a new wine must be put into new bottles; the only government in the state that will represent all the blueprints and aspirations of Peter Obi is Labour party as you know. So when you hear Obi saying transformation Nigeria from consumption to production economy, it will also replicated in the States. Any good thing Obi is doing at the national level will be replicated in the States. That is why it is advisable that Cross Riverians elect Labour Party at the state levels, because we cannot be having a new leadership attached with old ideologies.
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Can we know all the offices your party is contesting for at the state level?
All. We are contesting for all; I mean governor, senators, House of Representatives and House of Assembly, all.
Do you truly have candidates for all the positions in Cross River?
Yes, that’s why I said all; for Senate, we have Honourable Daniel Asuquo, for south, in central we have Chief Patrick Okomiso, in north we have Comrade Gboshi Ikposhi, for House of Reps, we have Dominic Oqua Edem, Bassey Akiba, Jesse Ejemot, John Sunday, Barrister Chris, Isaac Ochang, Prince John , Claretta Ogar and a host of others. So we have all. Even the house of Assembly, we have all 25 state constituency candidates.
We have not seen any major banner advertising the candidature of Peter Obi, across Calabar.
The challenge is that as you know, the state government has placed a high tariff on outdoor advertisement. Labour party is not in government, our presidential candidate has never stolen funds, he is running the campaigns from money made out of his business. So when government puts so much high tariff on us, it becomes challenging to pay. But irrespective of that, a few days ago, I was in Abuja, I drove from the airport up to the city, we didn’t see his banner, but I can tell you this; elections are not won on billboards, it’s the people in Cross River. You may not see the banners, but I can tell you that Peter Obi is already crested in the minds of the voters. This is the first time people will know that it is not a question of mounting large billboards and making it look so attractive and all that; candidates are contesting for political offices not musical awards. They are not celebrities, so the thing is in people’s minds. This is the first time we would see that a man without billboards will win those who have painted the city red with their pictures. You will see it yourself, Peter Obi wants to introduce what is obtainable in every civilized society. Election is won by credibility, having character and the capacity and competence. Put all the three major candidates together, Peter Obi has all it takes to win this election. He has all Nigeria needs at the moment. If they like, they should block us from having our billboards everywhere that will not stop anything. What will be will be.
INEC says they have released the final list of candidates and your candidate for Abi/Yakurr is still not included in that register?
If you have read that INEC publication, they said it would be updated based on court injunction and also, when they released that list, you will see that our candidate at the time, for Yala/Ogoja too wasn’t having his name uploaded. But if you go back and check, they have added his name. So John Ifere of Abi/Yakurr was illegally excluded. He went to a court of competent jurisdiction and the court has asked INEC to recognize him, which INEC will do
Why the delay? If the order was properly obtained, why has the name not been uploaded till now?
We do not know how INEC operates but we know that John Ifere is not the only candidate. There are a lot of others having similar issues. Maybe INEC wants to do the publishing all at the same time because even as we speak, there are still cases in court involving candidates from different parties. So, perhaps, having received the court order, INEC is waiting to run all the publications in a one off pattern. For us, all we know is John Ifere is a legally accepted candidate by law, and it would not affect his candidacy because we have an overwhelming support in the constituency, even if the election is today, John Ifere will win.
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There are a lot of sentiments in Cross River State concerning zoning. For Abi/Yakurr, many have argued that it’s the turn of the Abi extraction. Do you share in that sentiment?
Like I always say, issues of governance and leadership are more divine than political; God’s view is beyond tribal or senatorial or constituency sentiments. His eyes go beyond that. Another thing you should know is that when we base on this factor, we end up not electing people that will deliver. You rather elect people based on turn, instead of who will deliver the mandate of the state. Anytime we start looking at turn, we end up presenting leaders without capacity. I believe that in leadership, we should first look at competence, capacity and one who has people’s interest at heart and not necessarily about turn. In Yakurr/Abi, a large chunk of the votes come from Ugep. Ugep has the voting strength; but now positions have been shared, senate is given to APC, PDP, from Mkpani and Ekori respectively. Reps moved to Abi, now Ugep that has the voting strength is left with nothing.
That’s even the same thing that has happened in the southern senatorial district, where governorship and senate has been given to one local government. So that local government has two senate candidates and one governorship candidate, whereas Akamkpa/Biase in that same senatorial district is left with nothing; that’s why we have Dansuki today running for senate. So our candidate for Abi/Yakurr is from Ugep. The Ugep people are saying no, we cannot be giving you our votes always and we have nothing. I don’t think any arrangement was made at the constituency levels to share or zone these positions. Whatever led to the zoning of these positions was not a unanimous agreement even at party basis. I don’t know anywhere and when they ever sat to make such agreement, if they did, John Ifere would not have come out to contest.
So as party chairman, what’s your view on the candidature of John Ifere and Daniel Asuquo?
Of course the duo are standing in the gaps to protect the interest of the marginalized. If you listen to Dansuki, he says it anywhere, that you cannot leave Akamkpa/Biase empty, likewise Ugep, in Abi/Yakurr.
In what ways do you think Cross River would miss Governor Ayade when he leaves office?
As a leader, I am always careful not to criticise fellow leaders. Even in Labour Party, our ideology is not to criticize any leader because you don’t know what the current leader is going through. Some people may become governor tomorrow and even perform worse than what they think Ayade is doing. Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke can criticize Ayade but those of us who have not held that position we are not qualified to criticize him.
One thing I will miss the governor is his vocabulary; especially when he goes to present his budgets. I don’t know if we would have a governor again that will encapsulate all budgets with a word phrase. I don’t know. I will miss him in that, but to criticize him, I will not do until I assume that seat and I see that yes, this and that were wrong; that’s when I can say okay, this and that he didn’t do well. But for now, I cannot
