The Labour Party has debuned claim that Governor Alex Otti of Abia state, will be defecting from the party which brought him into powere to join the ruling All Progressive Congress, as 2027 draws near.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Obiora Ifoh, made this Known during an interview with newsmenon Friday in Abuja.
He noted that although there are speculations that the few opposition governors might join the ruling party, as defection is not a new thing, Alex Otti’s purported plan to dump LP for APC was farther from the truth, as Otti is not thinking about teaming up with the ruling APC.
He said, “It is a mere rumour and I hope it remains so. For us in the Labour Party, we are in touch with our governor, Dr Alex Otti, and he has assured us that he is not going anywhere, ahead of 2027.
“We believe that he will stay with us, irrespective of some of the issues which we are working hard to resolve.”
“We are good in Labour Party and our governor is with us, and we are hoping that by 2027, we will have more governors in our fold,” he said.
“The courts have come up several times to make interpretation as regards Section 84 of the 1999 Constitution and many people who had defected at one time or the other had been challenged in court.
“So, if five governors are planning to defect, it won’t be a new thing, as it had happened in the past,” he said.
His comment follows speculations that first-term opposition governors like Peter Mba, Enugu; Sheriff Oborevwori, Delta; Siminalayi Fubara, Rivers and Umoh Eno, Akwa Ibom, and Alex Otti were being wooed to join the ruling party.
In a separate move, the Court of Appeal has affirmed Mr. Julius Abure as the authentic National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP
The court which sat in Abuja, on Friday, said it found no reason to dislodge the judgement that was delivered in Abure’s favour by Justice Emeka Nwite. The appellate court directed the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to grant the LP under Abure’s leadership, all the rights and privileges accorded a political party duly registered in the country.
