The emergence of Hilton Idahosa, a lawyer practicing in the United Kingdom, as the party’s third rival candidate for governor of Edo State on Sunday furthered the division within the party.
The Labour Party held its primary on Friday in advance of the Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 21, 2024.
Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the LP, selected Olumide Akpata, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, to be the recipient of the LP governorship ticket.
The factional National Chairman of the party, Lamidi Apapa, announced the holding of a parallel governorship primary and named Anderson Asemota as the Edo LP governorship candidate and Monday Mawah as his running mate. However, this announcement brought the leadership crisis plaguing the Labour Party at the national level back to the fore.
The Independent National Electoral Commission was notified by a letter dated February 22, 2024, allegedly signed by Apapa, that Asemota had emerged as the Edo LP governorship candidate.
In a novel turn of events, Idahosa said on Sunday that he was the LP candidate for governor, chosen by the Apapa group.
Idahosa said, “The primary election which was earlier slated for Thursday, February 21, 2024, was shifted to Saturday, February 24, to allow for exigencies. There was no primary election conducted on Thursday, February 22, as purported in the said letter from Apapa to INEC.
“The election in which I emerged as a candidate was conducted by the Labour Party state officials at the factional secretariat of the party on First East Circular Road, Benin City.
“The said letter was the handiwork of mischief makers who were bent on causing disaffection within the ranks of the party. I have the backing of the state leaders and the party members, as well as that of Apapa and his team.
“The true position will be made known in the coming days as my team is in dialogue with both the Apapa team and leaders of the party in the state.”
But when contacted, Apapa insisted that the letter conveying Asemota’s name to INEC was authentic.
“Yes, it is true. The letter is from us,” he said.
