Imo Labour Party leadership: Anaeme warns against factionalisation

A chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Imo State, Hon Stephen Aneme, has called on party members who are yet to embrace the new national leadership of the party led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman to do so for the peace and progress of the party.

He made the call while pointing out what he described as the unbecoming attitude of the immediate past National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, and his Imo State counterpart, Callistus Ihejiagwa, who he said are yet to recognize the national caretaker committee, urging them to do so for the betterment of the party.

“The uncertainty trailing our Party, LP, again is worrisome. If anybody thinks that keeping quiet and allowing political gladiators to bring down the Labour Party, especially in Imo State, to further achieve their selfish aims, that person should start thinking twice.

“Following the publication made on September 13, 2024, in the Newspoint Newspaper, in which one of the Labour Party chieftains, I, Hon. Stephen Aneme, congratulated the Senator Esther Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee of the party, believing that the healthy development at Umuahia, in the best interest of the party, has brought to an end all agitations for supremacy by different interest groups,” he said.

The party chieftain frowned at what he termed as an ugly and unwanted development orchestrated by some people who are yet to come to terms with the new development by trying to create another faction in the party structure, both at the national and the state levels.

Aneme called on the Abure/Apapa-led factions and their Imo State counterpart to follow the steps taken by other members by putting to rest their agitations and joining hands with the present caretaker committee of Senator Usman to move the party forward.

“Let them follow the steps taken by Mrs. Maria Lebeke and Comrade Abdulwahed Omars in the spirit of oneness to reposition the party for the challenges and victory ahead.

He remarked that “any house that is divided against itself can never hold,” maintaining that the party cannot afford to undergo its past experiences as observed in the last dispensation.

“This time around, we must strive to come together in one accord, as no one is indispensable or an island. Together we can, and together we shall achieve our goals. The Labour Party is a public entity, owned by the generality of Nigerians who believe in a labourer deserving his or her wages and not what we keep witnessing with other political parties,” he further said.

Aneme used the occasion to urge the new national leadership not to allow the party to experience what he described as the ugly managerial scenario it encountered in the past, which cost the party its fortune.

“Let them uphold our slogan, ‘Labour Party: Forward Ever, Backwards Never,'” he concluded.