Group faults Rhodes-Vivour, LP leaders over Lagos takeover plans

The Patriots of Nigerian Democracy have criticised the 2023 Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and other leaders of the party for saying they will take over Lagos State in 2027.

It will be recalled that Rhodes-Vivour, while speaking to journalists in Umuahia, Abia State capital, at the end of LP’s extended stakeholders’ meeting on Wednesday, said that they will take over Lagos.

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“LP is now well-structured, not just to win but to take power in 2027. What we have come to do here in Umuahia is to bring everybody on the same page. We are set for new victories in 2027.

“I believe Labour Party will win Lagos State more convincingly in 2027. Since after the 2023 elections, work has not stopped; we have not gone quiet. Every day, we are getting stronger and stronger.

“So, we are not just going to win but stand up and take power,” Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour said in Umuahia.

Reacting to the statement, the group said that LP leaders are a bunch of hypocrites who pretend to be on the side of the people but are neck-deep in their selfish interests.

The statement, jointly signed by the President of the group, Comrade Olaolu Esan, and the Secretary, Engr. Abdullahi Rabiu, recalled that LP and its supporters recently attacked the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, for urging the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, to rejoin the All Progressives Congress (APC), vowing that the ruling party will win the state in 2027 in a viral video.

“All hell was let loose recently when the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, in a video that went viral, called on the Governor of his own Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, to rejoin APC.

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“Kalu came under heavy criticism and attacks by LP and its supporters. They criticised him for speaking his mind. They made Nigerians see him in a bad light as if what he said was a taboo.

“But here we are. Just about one or two weeks afterwards, the same LP leaders assembled in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, to issue a quit notice to APC in Lagos.

“So, where is their nobility? Where is their shame? They abandoned governance for the politics of 2027. How does that make them the ‘Saints’ of Nigerian politics? Are they for the people or against the people?

“We had thought that the LP leaders gathered in Umuahia to discuss the biting economy and the solution. We had thought they gathered to tell Nigerians how they will entrench good governance in Abia State, but we didn’t know their meeting was about strategies to take over Lagos, an APC-controlled state. We have waited for Abia Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, to call Rhodes-Vivour to order or to at least tell him it is not yet time for politics, but more than 24 hours later, none of the LP’s leaders has done that.

“We want to say that this is very unfortunate. It simply means that politicians, irrespective of their political parties and leanings, are all one and the same. They always think about the next election and not about good governance. They are always after their personal agenda and selfish interests.

“If this will be tolerated, it simply means that the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Kalu, is vindicated. Labour Party supporters owe the Deputy Speaker a collective apology for attacking what he said and saying what they attacked. This is hypocrisy.

“Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour’s comment indicates and gives a feeling that the media attacks on Kalu were actually sponsored, even though it was highly unnecessary. LP leaders can’t be a bunch of hypocrites.

“Our concerns are good governance and the welfare of the Nigerian people. While we are not saying that politicians should not ‘battle’ themselves over 2027, they must ensure that Nigerians get the dividends of democracy. Good governance should not be sacrificed on the altar of politics. Nigerians should not be shortchanged in any way; rather, their lives should be improved by every means possible. That is our position,” the statement said.