From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A former Presidential Aspirant under Labour Party (LP), Comrade Faduri Oluwadare Joseph has thrown his weight behind Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to resolve internal crisis in the party, saying LP cannot afford to dash high hope of Nigerians by relegating the party to the background.
In a statement made available to Daily Sun by media aide of the former presidential Aspirant, Rev. Emmanuel Olorunmagba said Comrade Joseph does not belong to any faction in Labour Party, but he is determined to make personal sacrifice to ensure peace among members of the party.
“I am part of the stakeholders who came together and want to resolve the internal crisis. Right now, what the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is doing is resolving the crisis. Don’t forget that Labour Party is a baby of NLC. So since we lack leadership at the top to resolve the crisis, the NLC had to set in. For instance at the beginning of the crisis, if Mr Peter Obi had managed it on time and handled it well, it wouldn’t have gone this bad. So because the man at the center could not handle it, that was why the NLC had to come in.
“I want to add that the Anambra State Labour Party convention was mere political kangaroo, what Abure did in Anambra State and tagged it national convention was a mere kangaroo gathering. It’s now that the NLC will organise a real convention from the Ward to the Local Government, to the State and finalise at the National level.
Everyone is fighting for selfish interest, personal interest and not national interest, and that is why we are where we are today.
“Within the confide of the law, NLC has the power to take over the party to resolve lingering crisis, if the situation is getting out of hand.
“Labour Party has no national leader for now. Because Mr Peter Obi that supposed to intervene on the issue of the crisis has not been proactive to initiating amicable resolution. So NLC had to step in.
“I came from US because of the NLC intervention in resolving the crisis as I was invited, though I couldn’t meet up on the day of the meeting, but my media director represented me there and it was a robust engagement.
“We must note that a house divided against itself cannot stand. With the crisis in Labour Party, it will be easier for the enemy to penetrate and even use people from within against Mr. Peter Obi and that is another reason he should have been more proactive in handling the internal crisis”. The statement said.
On solution to the conflict in the party, Comrade Joseph noted that, “the solution to the lingering problems in Labour Party is restructuring and reorganising the party. First and foremost, these set of leaders – The Abures the Apapas, – need to step aside for new leaders who are ready to work and have the interest of the nation at heart, and give the younger generation opportunity to be part of the leadership.
“Nigerians are looking at Labour Party as alternative, and we cannot afford to fail them. So we shouldn’t see in Labour Party what we are seeing in APC and PDP. Therefore let’s support the good move by the NLC to reposition the Labour Party.”
The LP chieftain also spoke on state of the nation, saying, “If I were the president of Nigeria, I would not have removed subsidy in day one. But before I remove subsidy I would have held various meetings with the marketers, meet with everyone involved in that sector and agree on something cogent and put measures in place to cushion the effects.
“On the monetary policy, I would have also first entered into the system, see the way money is played within the system and see what to do before unifying the currency.
“And most importantly on the issue of electricity supply, I would have done everything within my power in my first year as president to ensure we have stable power supply in this country. A country that has stable power has cut its problems half way”. He added.