2023: We're yet to pick our guber candidate, still searching ― Lagos LP

Lagos State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) on Tuesday said it is yet to officially come up with its gubernatorial candidate for the 2023 General Elections, pointing out that it would do that before the August 12, 2022 “window” allowed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for final submission of party candidates.

Chairman of the party, Comrade Olukayode Salako, made this known at the unveiling of the 24- member new Executive Committee of the LP headed by him, declaring that the search for the party’s governorship candidate in the state was a “work in progress.”

This was just as Salako, a social crusader and public affair analyst, asserted that there was no faction in the state chapter of the party, insisting that the Labour Party was resolved to win the next guber poll and form the next government in the state, come 2023.

According to Salako, who addressed the press conference, attended by the new exco members, both the national and state leaderships are still searching for a much more capable and credible candidate to be presented for the topmost seat in the state, saying by the time INEC publishes the final list, such candidate would become public knowledge.

“We are here to present ourselves as a body, newly elected to run the affairs of the party formally.

“Two, to let you know that there is no faction in Labour Party in Lagos State. This is the constitutionally elected body of the state. So any other faction or caucus does not have anything to do with the national or any other state in Nigeria.

“We have brought you here to let you know the operational vision and mission for Lagos. That vision and mission are to make Labour Party the next ruling party in Lagos.

“What we are practising in Lagos is a democracy, not autocracy. We are running and we shall not be afraid to run. Our mission is to form the next government in Lagos very soon and with God Almighty behind us, beside us, and by us, it is doable, it is possible. We have the mental and intellectual capacity and capability to achieve that,” he said.

“There is hardship, there is poverty in the land, Nigerians are groaning. I wanted to travel last month for an event, but I couldn’t do that because of insecurity.

“President Buhari’s government is sleeping. The mass movement is behind us, we are the rave of the movement. Peter Obi is a man of the moment. We cannot continue to vote for leadership insensitivity,” he added.

Speaking further, the LP chairman raised the alarm that some people, who he described as state boys, were sending threat messages to their members due to the growing popularity of the party in Lagos State, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, and other security outfits in the country to intervene and bring sanity to the country “to allow us to run our affairs.”

“The law does not say it should be one or two parties, we are running a democracy in the country. Labour Party shall not be referred to as mushroom party in the state or the country anymore.

“There is a new sheriff in town now. It is run by a new set of people now, maybe those running it before didn’t know how to run it,” Salako said.

Also speaking, the State Secretary of the party, Mr Sam Okpara, said Labour Party was bringing a message of transformation to deliver Nigerians from hardship, suffering and all the negative things they were experiencing, calling on them to join the platform to experience freedom.

The party chieftain expressed appreciation to the National Assembly for the amendment to the Electoral Law which it effected and the INEC for making votes of Nigerians count in recent elections in the country, assuring that “Labour Party is going to form the next government in the country and Lagos State,” come 2023.

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