Ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial and state assembly elections, the leadership of the Labour Party declared on Tuesday that the executive council of its Rivers State branch has been dissolved with immediate effect.
State party officials were fired for flagrant anti-party behavior and corruption in the handling of LP funds, according to a statement from the party’s national chairman, Julius Abure.
The dissolution follows rumors that the state chapter of the LP disbanded in order to support Sim Fubara, a candidate for governor of the Peoples Democratic Party.Yet after the National Working Committee’s emergency meeting in Abuja, Abure declared that the decision to dissolve the executives was made in order to benefit the Labour Party and the “Obidient” movement in Rivers State.
He said that those in charge in Rivers State, where the party’s standard bearer, Peter Obi, had his presidential mandate brazenly stolen, had to resign until a thorough inquiry into what transpired during the previous election is finished.
The compromised State Executive Council, chaired by Mr. Deinye Pepple, has lost the trust of the National Working Committee in its ability to organize the campaign for the March 11th governor’s and State House of Assembly elections.
“The National Working Committee reiterates the full support of the Labour Party on Comrade Beatrice Itubo’s candidacy for the position of the next Governor of Rivers State and urges all Obidients in Rivers State to disregard every remark made on the election of March 11th by the disgraced State Chairman of the Labour Party, Deinye Pepple.
“The National Working Committee, therefore, enjoins all Obidients to come out massively on March 11th to vote for Comrade Beatrice Itubo of Labour Party,” he said.