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‘Labour Party not for inclusive government’

By Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja
27 July 2015   |   2:44 am
THE Labour Party (LP) has dismissed the call by its National Secretary, Olukayode Ajulo on President Mohammade Buhari to form an inclusive government as a personal opinion and is not in line with the party’s position. The National Chairman of the party, Abdul Salam Abdulkadir while reacting to the statement noted that the party has…
Abdulkadir

Abdulkadir

THE Labour Party (LP) has dismissed the call by its National Secretary, Olukayode Ajulo on President Mohammade Buhari to form an inclusive government as a personal opinion and is not in line with the party’s position.

The National Chairman of the party, Abdul Salam Abdulkadir while reacting to the statement noted that the party has no reason to join any inclusive government.

The LP chairman noted that the party did not at any time meet to take such position of calling on Buhari to set up an inclusive government, adding that as a marketable political party, it would rather remain a leading opposition party than join in the call for an inclusive government.

He regretted that despite all the campaign promises of the APC, which won it the support of Nigerians at the polls, the party has rather allowed itself to be swallowed by its internal crisis while insurgency in the Northeast has multiplied more that it was when the party took over.

“The statement is quite embarrassing and is taken very serious by the Labour Party. Firstly it is not the position of the party. For any policy statement of that nature to come out from the party, it must come from either the national chairman or the publicity secretary. There was no time the party decided through any of its organs to advise either the APC or President Muhammadu Buhari on what type of government it should operate or constitute.

“They have promised change, which we are yet to witness. So we could not be given the impression as if we want to be part of their government. During their campaign, they vowed to end Boko Haram insurgency within weeks, today the problem of insurgency has become more complicated than how they met it.

“We are giving them the free hand to operate the way they want, all we urge is that they implement their agenda based on the interest of Nigerians. The Labour party has not seen anything worthwhile from the ruling APC that would warrant our call on the party to set up an inclusive government. We have no business with any type of government it forms. As at now, we have not seen any reason to call for or join any party in an inclusive government. We have not seen the direction of the government. If we are invited, we are a marketable political party and must make sure that we have input, we must present to the APC and must be sure that it will appreciate our manifestoes.

“We cannot just join any party’s government just because it is ruling, we are not hustlers, we are ready to help any government to solve the problems confronting the country, but we are not in a hurry to be part of any government, especially this government which we have not seen as a succeeding one.”

The problem facing the APC is so monumental that it has not been able to solve its internal crises, not to talk of bringing in other people to work with. The party has not achieved five per cent of the totality of what it promised to achieve within the first month of its inauguration. That is why we feel that it will be difficult for the Labour Party to consider itself to be part of the government. We are rated as a major opposition party in the country because both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party are the same as far as Nigerian politics and democracy is concerned”.

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