Airtel

Saturday 28 June 2014

Jonathan remains our Presidential candidate – Labour party

A chieftain of the Labour Party in Oyo State, Chief Lowo Obisesan, has dissociated the party from a statement by its state Chairman, Chief Bashiru Apapa, that it has not adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as candidate for the 2015 presidential election. Obisesan, a lawyer and former Commissioner for Environment in the state, said the position of the entire membership of Labour Party in the state remained the same with that of the national leadership and indeed other state chapters of the party, which endorsed the president as its candidate for next year’s polls. In an interview published on yesterday’s (Thursday) edition of Daily Sun, Chief Apapa declared that the Labour Party had not adopted Jonathan as its candidate as being speculated, saying the president had not justified a similar mandate given to him in 2011. But Obisesan, in an interview in Ibadan yesterday, said the entire members of the party in the state were shocked and embarrassed at Apapa’s view, as it negated the well known unanimous stand of the party. He said the Labour Party boss probably had a slip of tongue as he was aware of the party’s decision. “I’m glad to say that I’m one of the apex members of the party and I must be honest with you that the position of the Labour Party at the national level and all the states is that Jonathan, in 2015 is our candidate. “And immediately I read this (Apapa’s) position… because I know the opinion of the party, I called other apex members of the party and they were not happy with the news.” “In asmuch as we are going to vote for our party in respect of any candidate that we place for any stake during the election through the Labour Party, when it comes to presidency, we are going to vote for Jonathan. He couldn’t have meant it, because he knows the position of the party at the national level and the position of Oyo State in particular is what I’m telling you. As one of the apex members of the party, that is the instruction that was given to me ”. Chief Obisesan said the LP was backing the president again, because apart from representing the party’s programme, he had tried to keep the country going, despite the overwhelming challenges facing the country, some of them orchestrated by political opponents. “The issue of saying somebody is doing well or not is a matter of fact. So for us, we believe he’s trying his best. But, everybody knows that the country is sick for now. Everything is faulty from the beginning to the end. We are in support of the way he’s been conducting himself.” “That is the position of the party as at now and it is not impossible that it remains like that because we believe in him and we see him as part of the people that believe in the programme of our party. We are very happy to associate ourselves with him ”, he concluded.

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