Labour Party (LP) in the South East stated, yesterday, that the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, did not influence the governorship primary of the party in the state.
It also noted that Senator Athan Achonu remains its governorship candidate for the November election, stressing that it had no deal with the incumbent governor of the state.
National Vice Chairman of the party in the South East, Innocent Okeke, who stated this in reaction to reports that Uzodimma sponsored the governorship candidate, said the party conducted the freest primary in the state.
Okeke said: “As a follow up to my earlier disposition on the conduct of our party’s governorship primary in Imo, it is no news that our party oversaw one of the most rancour free primary elections in Nigeria.
“The party conducted the freest, fairest and most credible primary. The exercise reaffirmed the genuine call for a paradigm shift in line with the ‘new Nigeria’ mantra.
“Apart from having Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff to supervise the exercise, security agents and observers were on ground to observe the entire process.
“The winner of the election, Achonu, did not spring a surprise, as he was always among the top three of likely winners of the election.
“At present, the party in Imo is concerned about building bridges and embarking on genuine reconciliation of every aggrieved member, bearing in mind that what is happening in the party is not peculiar. It is common with party administration in Nigeria.
“Based on the foregoing, I urge every aggrieved aspirant to apply caution and avoid any form of blackmail against party members, as we recently saw in a trending voice message, falsely purporting that our governorship candidate has a deal with Uzodimma to undermine the party’s expected victory in the state.
“This is only laughable, but exposes the desperation of the originator. We must embrace the spirit of sportsmanship. Let the defeated in a fair contest congratulate the winner and work for the party’s victory, as we have, over time, witnessed in other states where the party conducted its governorship primaries.”
