The Labour Party in Rivers State has assured members of the public that the party is still intact.
This is coming after a Rivers State High Court struck out a suit by the suspended state chairman of the party, Dienye Pepple.
The former Chairman had prayed the court to determine if the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure has the sole right to suspend the state executives and appoint a steering committee following his alleged anti-party activities in the state.
Dienye, who heads another faction of the Labour Party in the state insists that he is still the chairman of the party, claiming that factional Acting National Chairman, Lamidi Apapa, had given him a letter to continue piloting the affairs of the party in the state, until their convention.
This has, however, quietened the activities of the Labour Party in the state since after the elections.
But, the newly appointed state chairman, after Pepple’s suspension, Hilda Dokubo, who spoke in her first activity as a leader of the party in the state, said the party has been quiet because people needed to recover from the outcome of the elections.
“You know, right after the elections and all the things that happened. Few people needed time to recover.
“We also had a situation. Before the election, the exco at the time, outside of the fact that their tenure had expired, also got themselves into anti-party activities.
“But they didn’t want to leave, they wanted to eat their cake and bake it, because this is not having it. You’re done eating and you think your food is in the oven.
“So, they took us to court and to the glory of God, and to truth, we are here. The court ruled and said the party is supreme. The person the party said is their chairman, is their chairman.
“So, this is Hilda Dokubo, and I’m here. This is my first real activity as the chairman. And this meeting is necessitated by the fat that I want to reassure people that the party is intact. Nothing has gone wrong, nothing can go wrong.
“We stand together as a people, and our strength as citizens is in one another.”
“We’re strengthening one another. We’re about to embark on party activities, especially training and retraining.
“We need people to understand their roles, not just as party members, but as citizens of this country.
“Like the speaker said, one election is not enough for you to say I’m done as a citizen. We’re doing this to re-energize ourselves, we’re doing this to announce that we’re here.”
Dokubo, who is a renowned Nollywood actress, said the party have not given up in the 2023 election, hoping for 2027, but they are waiting for the judiciary to save Nigeria.
Reacting to a statement by the former South-South Vice Chairman of the party, Favour Reuben, accusing Peter Obi of being responsible for the internal crisis rocking the Labour Party, Dokubo said, “By the court and by the party, he has been expelled. So, it’s like a non-member of the house speaking and condemning the house.
“So it comes with no relevance as far as I’m concerned. If Favour has bones to pick, he should go to where his fish is and pick his bones.
“Accusing Peter Obi is ridiculous. He should ask himself what he has done to improve on anything.” She said.
On his part; the Rivers State Organizing Secretary and Spokesperson of the Labour Party, Gogo Wellington, said the purpose of their meeting is to encourage members across the twenty local government areas of the state that the Party is still on course to reclaim their mandate at the presidential election petition tribunal.
”The event today was a medium for us to assemble all party stakeholders and Obidients in the state, to try and encourage them in our pursuit for justice.
“You know, we’re still following the case of our principal in court and we’re waiting for the judgement which has been reserved to be given in a yet-to-be-announced date.
“All that can lead to some form of uncertainty in the minds of people.
“So, we needed to bring our people across the 23 LGAs together to talk on certain important issues and encourage them that we’re still on course to victory because we’re very certain that we’re going to reclaim our mandate.
On Dienye Pepple’s issue, Wellington noted that the former acted on his own when he and the suspended excos decided to endorse Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party, before the guber election in March 2023, abandoning their party’s candidate, Beatrice Itubo.
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