Yinusa Tanko, a Labour Party chieftain and spokesman for the Obi-Datti presidential campaign organization, has offered some insights into the current crisis in the party.
During an interview with ChannelsTV, Tanko said he believed the ongoing crisis could have been averted had the party leaders heeded the counsel of Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
Tanko said the LP’s national convention which was held at Nnewi, Anambra State on and in which current chairman Julius Abure was re-elected lacked inclusivity.
He said while Abure has the right to contest the national chairmanship position again, it was only proper that the right things are done by opening the door for more people to be part of the process.
Tanko stressed that Abure breached an initial agreement to have an all-inclusive national convention which ought to have elected delegates to the national convention by holding ward, local government and state-level congresses before the national convention to elect national leaders of the party.
Since the convention “did not conform with that agreement”, according to Alhaji Tanko, the election of the new leadership was “not acceptable” to everyone within the party.
“When the issue of the national convention came up, he (Obi) suggested to the national chairman that because we are bigger now, we need to have a wider consultation: meet with responsible and interested people such as the TUC and NLC, stakeholders, the Obidient group – young generation people who are interested in seeing Nigeria work. Meet with leaders who have different ideas that can midwife us into a greater height.
“All of these were the suggestions that he (Obi) made, and not only did he make those suggestions, he practicalised them because he met with the members of the National Assembly.
“He (Obi) met with the leadership of the party recently in Asaba trying to give them ideas on how he thinks certain things could be done and you could improve our situation but of course, you know how politics is, sometimes, people may be trying to encourage people, but they do something different.
“You can only take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water, so that’s exactly what Peter Obi has done, he has done so greatly to see if we can find a solution to some of the problems we find ourselves.”
“In his efforts to mitigate such issues, His Excellency Peter Obi consistently advised the national chairman to broaden consultations, engaging with various stakeholders such as the TUC and NLC, as well as the Obidient group – a cohort of young Nigerians keen on national progress,” Tanko stated.
When questioned about the potential impact of the party’s crisis on Obi’s future electoral chances, Tanko replied that “Obi is a brand of his own and that he and other people will always move with him wherever he goes to”.
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