By Lucky Isibor
The governorship candidate of Labour Party in the 2024 Edo State governorship election and ex-president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata (Esq) has dumped the party and joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Addressing ADC leaders and supporters at the Ogbelaka Street State secretariat of the party, venue of the event to recieve him into the party on Tuesday, 24 February, Akpata pointed out that Labour Party members across the three Senatorial districts and the eighteen local government areas in the state were fully represented in the defection, adding that Labour Party members that came with him have come to add value and strength to party.
He appreciated the members of the ADC for the warm reception granted him and members of Labour Party who came into the party with him.
In a remark at the ceremony, the presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi who is now a chieftain of the ADC; assured that the party is committed to the enthronement of a new Nigeria, appealing that all hands must be on deck to build a country “where a child of nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody.”
Obi lamented that while Nigeria is borrowing to finance consumption and ostentatious lifestyle of leaders, other countries like Bangladesh are borrowing to finance development and the provision of critical infrastructure to enhance their development.
“Nigeria is number three of debtors to the world Bank, owning 18.7 billion dollars and Bangladesh is owning the same institution 23 million dollars. In 2015, 10 years ago, Bangladesh’s GDP was 195 billion dollars with a per capital of one thousand two hundred and thirty five but today, the same Country’s GDP is one hundred and ninety billion dollars with a per capital of two thousand seven hundred dollars meaning that their GDP and per capital has doubled and today Nigeria’s GDP is under two hundred and per capital is under one thousand. One country borrowed and invested in productive endeavors and another one borrowed for consumption and collapsed and that is why we must rescue the country from merely consumption to production to make a Nigeria that is workable. They are not going to allow us easily, but we must try our best to build a future for ourselves, a future for our children.”
Also speaking former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor regretted that the Nigerian political space was full of despots who are pretending to be democrats and deplored the failure of the National Assembly to approve the real time transmission of election results.
“Some people are pretending to be Democrats but they’re actually anti- democracts. The recent demonstration of this tendency is the refusal of the National Assembly to approve the real time transmission of election results. Since 1999, the electoral act has been amended several times and we saw that the major mistakes in the previous elections of 2023 was that the presidential election was not transmitted electronically real time and we expected that the National Assembly would have approved the transmission of election results.”
Welcoming Akpata, his followers and other members of Labour Party earlier, one time Governor of Edo State, Chief Odigie Oyegun who described Akpata as a renown legal practitioner and a big fish in politics and appealed to all well meaning Nigerians to come together to do all that is needed to be done to save Nigeria, because according to him, “Nigeria needs to be saved and as an illustrious son of Nigeria Obi has decided to join hands with other well meaning Nigerians to savage the country.”