Politics
Councillor Declared Wanted For Disappearing With Palliatives
Niger State Government has declared a Councillor in Katcha Local Government Area of the State , (name withheld) wanted for allegedly disappearing with 30 bags of palliative grains meant to be distributed to members of his constituency.
Secretary to the Niger State Government, who is also State Chairman Taskforce on COVID-19, Alhaji Ibrahim Matane, who confirmed the issue said the Councillor was part of a committee set up for the distribution of the grains to his community .
The SSG described the act as very disgraceful and fraudulent which he said the government wOULD not like to sweep under the carpet.
He explained that 10 bags each of rice, maize and millet were allocated to the 274 wards across the 25 local government areas of the state by the state government.
According to him,a committee was set up in each of the 274 wards in the state, which comprises of Councillor, Party Chairman , Ward Head, and a religious leader to monitor the distribution of the grains of which the councillor in question is part of.
“Because of this disgraceful act, the security agents have been ordered to get him arrested for proper investigation and punished appropriately,” the SSG declared.
The SSG however said that despite the diversion by the councillor, the state government would still embark on the second round of palliative which would include grains and distributed to the people accordingly.
Politics
LP Crisis: Ex-NWC Member Dumps Dumps Abure Faction
Mr Ojukwu, who recently returned to the interim National Working Committee led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman, noted that the party had 34 elected members in the House of Representatives, eight Senators, and 80 members at the state Houses of Assembly after the 2023 general elections.
“Now we lost all of them,” he said. “I don’t think we have as many as five members in the National Assembly.”
The former national officer of the LP talked to journalists in Abuja and said he chose to join the caretaker committee led by Senator Nenadi-Usman because they are now the officially recognized leaders of the Party.
“I chose to work with the caretaker committee to help save the Labour Party, for the benefit of the party. I also want to use this chance to ask my colleagues at the national, state, and local government levels to come together and help rebuild our party.
“Another election is around the corner. We lost everything we have. They have left to other political parties. So I’ll reach out to all my friends in the other group to get together and work on making this party stronger again.
“The caretaker committee has formed a reconciliation committee. Let’s come together and talk so that we can restore the first opposition political party in Nigeria.”
Mr Ojukwu, who was part of the Julius Abure’s group, said there are no more factions in the LP.
He added, “There is a court ruling, and since it is valid, the right people are in the correct positions.”
He urged Barr Abure and others to drop the legal cases they have filed because they are not helping the party.
“Litigations are killing political parties”, he said. “They’ve seen many political parties disappear because of legal battles, and the Labor Party is losing support every day, which makes me feel sad.”
Mr Ojukwu said he did not think joining the Senator Nenadi-Usman’s NWC was a betrayal of the Abure group, describing himself as “the oxygen” of that faction.
“I’m with this group because of the verdict. But I never betrayed anybody. Rather, I was betrayed,” he added.
