Chairman of the Labour Party in Edo State Kelly Ogbaloi said the national leadership of the party did not follow due process in dissolving the state executive.
Ogbaloi, instead, accused the embattled national chairman of the party, Julius Abure, of instigating the crisis rocking the Labour Party in the state.
The state executive had ratified Abure’s suspension by his ward in Uromi, last Friday, after which Ogbaloi declared that the embattled national chairman was no longer a member of the party.
Abure-led national leadership on Monday announced the dissolution of the state exco and instituted a 17-man caretaker committee headed by former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Elizabeth Ativie.
The unfolding crisis comes barely four months before the governorship election in Edo State which has former NIgeria Bar Association (NBA) chairman Olamide Akpata as Labour Party candidate.
However, reacting to the dissolution of the party executive in the state, Ogbaloi said he wasn’t aware of a change of party leadership in the state.
He noted that his exco remains committed to working with the party candidate, Olumide Akpata to emerge victorious at the September 21 poll.
He said, “We have a situation in the state now as created by the former national chairman of the party, Julius Abure. You know that a member of an association can claim to be an officer of that organisation only if he is a member. As of today, Abure is no longer a member of the party, having been removed as a member from his ward in Uromi.
“Having said that, the National Working Committee along with the national chairman, have the right to dissolve a state exco, have the right to check the tenure of an exco that has expired or not. But in doing this, there must be due process, which entails that the NWC must have a meeting to discuss the issue after which a position is taken.
“I am asking the NWC and the former chairman to present the minute of the meeting where the decision was taken that the state executive council in Edo State should be dissolved. There is nothing like that.
“The understanding the previous time was that because there is an election in Edo State, the normal legal congresses should be put on hold till after the election. So at what time did that now change to give the former chairman the power to unilaterally dissolve the state exco.”
He said some members of the National Working Committee have an idea of the state party dissolution.
“If the dissolution is to be normally done, the national officer coming from Abuja to the state to inaugurate the new council is expected to bring the old executive and the new one to sit side by side to ensure that a proper inauguration and handover was done.
“Then the old executive will then lead the new one to institutions that the party collaborates with in the state and even lead them to the candidate of the party and hand him over to them.”
He said inauguration of the purported new executive was done in the night, claiming that those whose did it sneaked into town at night and vanished at the same time.
“The business of the party is not nocturnal or a secret cult thing. But due to the fact that they realised the defect in what they were doing, they chose to work at night.
“For us, we are not aware that there is a change of power in the Edo LP. The executive that I lead is intact and working hard to ensure that we work with the candidate of the party so that he can become the governor of Edo State.”
Ogbaloi blamed Abure for the crisis in the party, adding “If you look at it critically, it is Julius Abure who is bringing in anarchy because before he took the decision to dissolve the state executive, he had been suspended so he has no power to carry out the exercise. We are putting up a committee so that he can come and defend the allegation levelled against him.
“If they think what we have done is not right, they should go and contest it in court to allow the law take it course. But no one can sit in the comfort of his office and say what we have done is not right. We have taken an action which we believe is right,” he added.
