The Chairman of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Barr Casmir Agbo, has said that LP would defeat incumbent Gov Peter Mbah in the 2027 general elections.
Barr Agbo stated this in a statement he issued on Wednesday in Enugu. He also disclosed that the gale of defection that had made LP the minority in the state Assembly does not worry the leadership of LP in the state.
THE WHISTLER reports that LP controlled the state’s House of Assembly after the 2023 general elections. LP also won two of the state’s senatorial seats and seven out of the eight House of Representatives seats. As a result, LP now has one senator and one House of Assembly member in the state.
Barr Agbo described those that left the party as “failed people”. In his words, “Enugu State LP is still waxing strong and can’t be moved by all these insignificant defections. We are happy that some ingrates and insignificant people are leaving officially, having unofficially left the party since their election and swearing as elected members of National and State Houses of Assembly. You do not give what you don’t have.”
He however expressed worry about “this brand of politics in Nigeria”. He recalled that the trend began with PDP by 2003 when they took over the Western states and some Northern states ruled by the opposition then. By that time the whole of East was under the control of PDP, he said.
He said LP broke the grip of the PDP in Enugu State after 24 years during the 2023 general elections. According to him, “They lost totally apart from the governorship that was brazenly stolen in broad daylight. The citizens were astonished by the way and manner the judiciary handled the matter despite glaring evidence available before it. There was no known precedent used by our courts to declare PDP and Peter Mbah winner. As a lawyer, I have been trying to know how our courts reached their conclusion in that matter.”
On the defection of Gov Mbah and key state stakeholders to the All Progressives Congress on Tuesday, Agbo said it was caused by “a panic”.
Quoting him, “Their policies and programmes are anti-people and they are afraid that they have lost touch with the people. I have heard some weak people say that we need to connect to the centre. Is it the same centre that is not performing or what? Our people lack ideology politically. Our people are too naive to say and do what they want. Those who are said to be strong lack tenacity of purpose.”
He also took a swipe at the two remaining elected LP lawmakers in the state, Senator Okey Ezea representing Enugu North senatorial district, and Hon Harrison Ogara representing Igbo-Eze South State Constituency.
Agbo said that, “Ezea and Ogara do not know the LP office both at the state and national level. They have disconnected themselves from the party for so long. Their problem is that they can’t find success in APC and are not on good terms with the National Chairman of the Labour Party and also the state. They are fighting the party leadership and Peter Mbah has refused to give them assurance.”
He said some LP National Assembly members that decamped to APC, as well as the state Assembly members that joined PDP “are trying their luck”.
According to him, “They don’t have the capacity to sway anybody in the state. They won the revolution led by the people against the government of which Mr Peter Obi was the head. Today it is no longer the same because Obi has messed up the revolution by his inconsistencies.”
Ahead of the 2027 general elections in Enugu State, the LP chairman said, “Peter Mbah will find it difficult to win the 2027 general election. His policies are anti-people and unless he changes, he will be voted out by the people and our party.
“Even the man Tinubu they are running to will lose his Presidency. APC at the centre is the worst government since 1999 in Nigeria. The oppression is too much. When the votes come in, they will be shocked. The masses of Enugu State shall speak at the appropriate time.”
He chided many people that decamped to APC alongside Gov Mbah, asking, “How can someone who was not consulted jump ship because a governor who has the mandate of the people is defecting? Can any of these men jumping up for the last two days tell us that Peter Mbah consulted them?
“Year 2027 is around the corner and the Labour Party, Enugu State, will do the same thing they did in 2023. The vote is one man one vote, and by the time it will happen, Enugu will witness a leader chosen by them.”
