Bayelsa Labour Party divided over alleged N100m gift from Gov Diri

The Labour Party (LP) in Bayelsa is experiencing a crisis just 24 hours before the state’s governorship election.

According to reports, a few party leaders publicly endorsed Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and turned their backs on Mr. Udengs Eradiri, the LP’s nominee for governor.

There are rumours that some people are supporting Chief Timpre Sylva, the APC’s candidate.

A few members of the Bayelsa Executive of LP, headed by Chief Tovie Pelesai, the organising secretary, and Anthony Oboghor, the finance secretary, have already declared their support for Diri on Thursday.

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They declared themselves to be speaking for the party’s state executive members.

According to information obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), a different LP executive group met with APC candidate Sylva at his Yenagoa home in order to discuss potential endorsements.

The Forum of Labour Party Local Government Chairmen in Bayelsa reacted to the event by accusing those who were backing Diri of betraying the party by turning away N100 million.

The forum’s chairman, Mr. John Toby, informed reporters that they were not shocked by the outcome and that they had known some of the members of the executive committee to be Diri’s party moles.

He declared: “As we had anticipated, these exco members went to the governor and solicited N100 million in order to support him and publicly disown our candidate, Udengs Eradiri.”

But since they are fighting over money right now, God has already caused a great deal of misunderstanding among them.

“They returned, declared N50 million to others, and said they had sent N50 million to our party’s national headquarters.”

Toby clarified, though, that the LP national chairman and other executive members had neither approved the action or accepted the payment.

“We would like to warn the public to be cautious around these individuals and imposters.

He continued, “They only have their own self-interests in mind because they see every election as a chance to profit from the state government.”

He said that the same people nearly ruined the occasion by stealing and sharing funds intended for Peter Obi’s state presidential campaign.

Toby asked LP members to be focused on backing the party’s governorship candidate, Eradiri.

He declared that Eradiri has the support of all LP grassroots members and the Obedient Movement in Bayelsa, and that Eradiri will win on Saturday.

“With our disavowal, all LP grassroots members reject these so-called party leaders. They are by themselves.

“We want to be clear that the tremendous grassroots support our candidate has already received will not be stopped by any amount of sabotage or sellout.

Our people are prepared to break free from the political grip of inept and self-centered politicians who are risking our future and the future of our children because our candidate, Udengs Eradiri, has rekindled the spirit of Adaka Boro in their hearts.

Toby said, “The people are prepared to speak, and they will speak by voting against these characters.”

In response to the events, the state chairman of the LP, Mr. Gideon Zidougha, stated over the phone that although the party’s candidate has supposedly been ignoring the executives, he is not responsible for Diri and Sylva’s support.

We have concerns about the LP candidate who has been excluding executives from the executive branch. While it is within their rights, as Chairman, I did not provide my approval for them to do so.

“I have been handling the situation until it reached this point, and the irate executive members have complained of neglect and not being supported by the candidate,” Zidougha stated.

He claims that those endorsing Sylva, the APC nominee, are national members of the LP’s Lamidi Apapa section.

“We know that a group posing as LP’s Bayelsa executive met with the APC candidate, but they did it for financial gain. The Apapa faction is not recognised by INEC and does not have the authority to support anyone,” he asserted.