Chairman of the Labour Party, Edo State Chapter, Comrade Kelly Ogbaloi, has posited that the leadership and members of his political party are working round the clock to ensure the political victory of their standard bearer, Mr. Peter Obi during the 2023 presidential election in the state.
He further disclosed that all the wards and local government offices across the 18 local government areas of the state, have been strengthened and made very active to be able to cope with the large volume of new members.
Below is the excerpts of the interview:
The state of Labour Party in Edo State?
Well, the state of Labour Party in Edo State is an organization that has experienced a very advanced form of organization. The organization is profound and has increased its ranks and we are strengthening every part of us. So I can tell you that the status is quite profound now and everything is working out.
Can you boast of having offices and structures in all the 18 local government areas in Edo state?
Yes, I can tell you that expressly without reservation that each of the 18 LGs have an increased presence of Labour Party right now. They have always been there but don’t forget that because of the undue apathy Labour Party experienced from these political parties in the past, and following the fact that most of our politicking within the confines of Nigeria has been reduced to monetary maneuvering over the time, so nobody cared to be interested in Labour Party. So there was now that in-actual belief that Labour Party had no structure. We have our structures and the presence is strengthened all over the 18 LGs.
Is that to suggest that you now have what the other parties have; that is deep pocket or unlimited money to spend?
No, not really, it’s only that we can do a bit beyond what we were doing before, arising from the current political dispensation where we have gotten a very diligent and important person from the main political stream to join us now. So you’ll then find that we actually need to re-strengthen, we have not gotten anything that is stolen, we have not gotten anything that should be used in a manner that can be considered extravagant or reckless, so what we have now is just adding a little to a little to be able to meet our needs of today because our intention is to win elections in 2023.
You mean OBIdient members are boosting the ranks of your party?
Yes, OBIdient members, because the boost we are having from the OBIdient members is the increase in the numerical, in the population, in the census of Labour Party, that is the boost we are getting now, and in order to grapple with the challenges in this process, we need to now strengthen some of the areas even though they were indeed existent before; they need to now be given more strength in order to be able to accommodate and be online to deliver to the expectation of the people of Nigeria.
It is evident that people are running into Labour Party from even other big parties, including the APC and PDP, so what does that portend for your party; are they coming to hijack LP or to genuinely support and strengthen it?
Well, we cannot establish the intentions of people except that when they are in, they exhibit some intentions. If the intention to hijack is observed or discovered when such people have been admitted, the party has the mechanism to deal with that. But as of now, whoever comes and wishes to decamp from his political party to join us, of course would be welcome because we cannot take away the rights of anyone to participate in the politics of his environment and so if anyone comes to say “oh look, I want to be your member” and I would say “no, don’t be”, in a way I would have been removing the right of the individual even though it may not be legally contestable. So we are open but watchful.
Do you think the Labour Party can win Edo state for Peter Obi with the trend of things now in 2023?
Absolutely, because it is not to be said or what we should even be talking about because it is clearly overwhelming, we can see it everywhere. This was even acknowledged by the executive governor of Edo state that the way things are going, it appears that people are no longer looking at the sides of PDP and APC. Consequently, they are looking for alternatives, the alternative he referred to is Labour Party. So for us, winning the election in 2023 for Obi is assured as the mouth will identify the butter in a bread.
Can you boast of winning 18/18?
Yes. It’s possible. However, if you win some and lose some, but what is appropriate is that you win at the aggregate that will give you the win.
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