The Enugu State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has distanced itself from a statement which attempted to describe Captain Everest Nnaji, popularly known as Odengene as an impostor in the party, stressing that the accomplished entrepreneur is one of their great assets.
LP said the statement was issued by one Barr Titus Onuorah Odo, who “criminally impersonates as the State Publicity Director of the Labour Party in Enugu State,” and urged the members of the public not to pay attention to such unguarded utterance.
Enugu Labour Party in a response issued by its authentic Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ibuchukwu Ezike, said that “it is rascally and sounds absolutely retrogressive and misleading to regard a man who has gone to court to seek redress against perceived injustice and infringement of his rights as a party member and won as not a member of the Labour Party.
Mr. Ezike in the statement titled ‘Re: Enugu 2023: Nothing Like Factional Candidate, Odengene Is An Impostor, stressed that “Capt. Evarest Nnaji, Odengene, is a full fledged and respected member of our Party with all the right to aspire to become our Party’s Governorship candidate like any other qualified Party member.”
He admonished the party members not to allow unqualified people speak for them as doing such could cause problem capable of undermining their success at the poll. He assured that the national office of the party is “making efforts to resolve all issues and arrive at a legitimate option or process that will guarantee peace, unity and victory for all at last.”
The Statement reads:
We are in possession of a Press Release entitled as above circulating in the social media and purported to have been issued by one Barr. Titus Onuora Odo who criminally impersonates as the State Publicity Director of the Labour Party in Enugu State. The Press Release issued on November 28th, 2022, among other things, says that “the attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been attracted to the billboards conspicuously mounted along airport road, Emene, bearing the party’s logo and insignia and that Mr. Everest Nnaji is not a member of the Labour Party”. The Statement referred to a judgement of the Federal High Court presided over by Hon Justice Nkonye Evelyn Maha that quashed the August 4th, 2022, primaries of the party that produced Hon. Barr. Chijioke Edeoga as the Guber candidate of the party in Enugu State and ordered a rerun primary within 14 days. This judgment has been appealed against which is why the primary has not held the Release noted.
It will be recalled that after the federal high court cancelled the Enugu primary, the national leadership of the Party declared that the party has no candidate in Enugu State . The National Secretary of the Labour Party, Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim, told media men that Labour Party in Enugu State has no Guber candidate. Addressing newsmen in reaction to a publication by the Daily Post on November 16, entitled, ” court judgement: Edeoga remains Enugu Guber candidate, no fresh primary”, Farouk said that the Labour Party has no legal right to “regard anyone as the Guber candidate of the party pending when one emerges through a legal means or process. Our party operates on well guided rules and we won’t want to go against the Federal High Court judgment by still regarding Chijioke Edeoga as a Guber candidate in Enugu State.”
Farouk went on to firmly reassert;
“The court said his (Edoga’s) emergence was faulty and there is nothing we can do about it but to do what the court has instructed. Anyone parading himself in such capacity as Enugu LP Guber candidate or identifying anyone presently as a Guber candidate is not acting under the instruction of our party. The long and short of it is that we have no Guber candidate yet in Enugu State.”
The position of the party on Enugu Guber controversy is firm and unambiguous. However, we are shocked that after the national leadership of our Party has held as mentioned above, anyone else is irresponsibly holding a contrary view against the Party. This is to mislead the public and cause friction in our party. It is a mischievous effort to bring Enugu Labour Party in confrontation with the party’s national leadership and the Courts as a disobedient and contemptuous state party chapter, this shall not be tolerated.
Again, it is rascally and sounds absolutely retrogressive and misleading to regard a man who has gone to court to seek redress against perceived injustice and infringement of his rights as a party member and won as not a member of the Labour Party. For the avoidance of doubt therefore, Capt. Evarest Nnaji, Odengene, is a full fledged and respected member of our Party with all the right to aspire to become our Party’s Governorship candidate like any other qualified Party member. It is important for us to always try as much as possible to make our utterances as civilised citizens of Nigeria not minding our individual interests. It is also very important that we don’t allow people who are not qualified to speak on behalf of the party to do so and continue to bring the party to ridicule. God gives power. We do not know who God would eventually ordain as our Flag bearer. Therefore, we should avoid throwing stones against the glass houses or into the crowd or pull down the house in case we turn out to become the occupants of the house. If we make uncomplimentary remarks against persons who are assets to the party, If we war and kill our personalities at this stage, how could we come together to work as a team to achieve maximum success at the polls in 2023 when one of us emerges as the candidate?
Let me inform all and sundry, that the national leadership of the party are making efforts to resolve all issues and arrive at a legitimate option or process that will guarantee peace, unity and victory for all at last.