The 2019 governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Imo State, Chief Joseph Ukaegbu, (Ikenga) has declared that he remains the apex leader of the party in Imo State.
Ukaegbu made the remark on Saturday in an interview with our correspondent in Owerri.
He was reacting to the declaration of the senator representing Owerri Zone and 2023 senatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Chief Ezenwa Onyewuchi, as the party’s apex leader in the state by the State Working Committee of the party.
The State Working Committee led by Dr. Ambrose Onyekwere, had after rising from a meeting with members of the National Working Committee and candidates of the party on Saturday, pronounced Sen. Ezenwa Onyewuchi as the party’s apex leader in Imo State.
Ukaegbu faulted Onyewuchi’s pronouncement, saying he (Ukaegbu) has been financing, mobilizing, coordinating and canvassing support for the party in the state since 2016 in addition to flying its governorship flag in 2019.
The politician maintained that being the standard flag bearer of the party in 2019 guber election and remaining in the party till date, confers on him, the apex leadership position of the party in Imo State.
He added that he remains the highest stakeholder and investor in the Labour Party project in Imo State till the next gubernatorial primary election in the state.
Ukaegbu said; “As the party’s 2019 governorship candidate, major financier as well as the highest stakeholder of the Labour Party at state level since 2016, I remain the apex leader of the party till the next primary election in the state and nobody can take that away from me’.
He queried why Onyewuchi did not become the apex leader of the PDP after the removal of former governor Emeka Ihedioha from office by the Supreme Court in 2020.
He pointed out that being a serving senator is not and cannot be tendered as a justifiable reason to pronounce Onyewuchi the apex leader of the party in the state.
He explained that the major task facing the party is winning elective positions in the 2023 general elections instead of stimulating divisive tendencies in the party
According to him, rather than whipping up acrimony, rancour and disunity in the party, Onyewuchi should concentrate more on his re-election bid.
He noted that his brazen interference with the leadership and structures of the party barely two months of defection, could adversely affect the electoral victory of the party in 2023.
He observed that the only reason Onyewuchi decamped from the PDP to the Labour Party is to achieve his re-election bid next year and may dump the party upon losing election for another party, making him a political passer-by or adventurer to the detriment of the party.
Speaking on the visit of the National Working Committee to the state on Saturday, Ukaegbu said that the visit was specifically to address and resolve the internal crisis rocking the party over party offices in order to prevent the party’s structures from being hijacked by some desperate politicians and not to do otherwise.
He however, expressed confidence in the National Chairman of the party, Barr. Julius Abure, who he described as a disciplined and perfect gentleman who has distinguished himself not only in the legal profession but also in complex area of political administration.
He therefore, called on him to review and declare as null and void, what he described as biased pronouncement by the State Working Committee, to save Imo Labour Party from being hijacked and distracted ahead of the 2023 general elections.
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