RIVERS VS ABIA: HOW ALEX OTTI'S CANDIDATES USED ZLP TICKETS TO WIN COUNCIL SEATS
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Labour Party (LP) faces a wipe out in the only state – Abia – it controls in the country.
Its protracted crisis at national level percolated to Abia State because of the disagreement between national leadership and Governor Alex Otti.
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Otti convened a stakeholders’ parley which rejected national chairman Abure’s leadership and enthroned Mrs. Nnadi Usman as caretaker chairman to mid-wife another national convention to produce a new leadership.
According to "The Nation", in the rundown to weekend’s local government election in Abia State, the party’s national leadership sent a list of candidate different from the ones picked by its Abia chapter.
The candidates loyal to Governor Otti contested on the ticket of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The ZLP won 15 of the 17 chairmanship seats. Young Peoples Party (YPP) took the remain seats, according to the poll results announced by the Chairman of the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC), Prof. George Chima.
Chima, who announced the results at the commission’s headquarters in Umuahia, the state capital, said the polls were free and fair.
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A source said as the battle for the control of the Abia LP chapter intensified between Abure faction and the Caretaker Committee, the governor’s supporters decided to contest on the platform of ZLP.
The defeat of LP, the source said, may mark the beginning of the end for LP as Otti may dump the platform ahead of 2027 elections.
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, reflecting on the LP’s protracted crisis, warned that Otti may be the last LP governor in the state.
The governor, while shunning the LP, urged Abians to vote for candidates that share the vision of his government, regardless of their political parties.
The indication of how deep the crisis in Abia LP is, manifested when Otti and his aides failed to attend the inauguration of LP campaign in Aba.
The state government gave permission to the ZLP to use the Enyimba International Stadium for its campaign, which the governor’s supporters attended.
According to the source, “those who won the local government seats under ZLP are Otti’s foot soldiers who are preparing the grounds for his switch to the relatively new party in the state, if the problem in the Labour Party remains unresolved ahead of the 2027 general elections.”
Otti, accompanied by his wife, Priscila, voted at his Unit 017, Ahiafor, Umuhu-Umuehim Nvosi in Isialangwa South local government area.
LP members loyal to Abure kicked against the outcome of the poll, accusing Governor Otti of anti-party activities, manipulation and starving the party of funds.
An official of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged that the governor, in collaboration with ABSIEC, removed the names of LP candidates from the ballot papers, thereby excluding them from the election.
He said trouble started in the party ahead of the primaries when Otti allegedly tried to impose candidates on the party.
The official said the party rejected it and the governor subsequently directed his loyalists to move to the ZLP to contest the election.
He added: “We had our primaries and our candidates for local government election emerged. But Abia State Electoral Commission didn’t allow any of them to contest. They removed their names. Alex Otti used his position to influence the election. What makes him different from the other political parties we are condemning?
“It is because the party insisted that the governor cannot impose any candidate. We insisted that there should be proper primaries. He took his own people to the Zenith Labour Party and barred the Labour Party candidates from participating in the election.
“The governor wanted to hand-pick the candidates for the election for the Labour Party and when it didn’t work. He took his people to the ZLP to contest. No single candidate from the Labour Party was allowed to participate in the election.
“The matter has gone to court. But I don’t see anything coming out of it since they control the judiciary in the state. The Labour Party leadership is wondering what is the difference between Alex Otti and the other political parties that we are condemning? Peter Obi should be very careful of Alex Otti.”
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