Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Labour Party (LP) in Kwara State yesterday suspended its governorship candidate, Basambo Abubakar, in next Saturday governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The party said Basambo was suspended until further notice for alleged anti-party activities and disseminating misleading information to members of the public.
Basambo had last Monday aligned with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi, for next Saturday’s poll in the state.
He said the union was expected to birth a collective dream for a prosperous Kwara State.
Since then, the LP in the state has been factionalised into two groups.
However, while addressing journalists in Ilorin, the state Labour Party Chairman, Kehinde Rotimi, said the party had not aligned with any governorship candidate or political party in the state for the Saturday governorship elections.
Rotimi, who said the suspended Labour Party governorship candidate acted against what the party stands for, added that he had no such authorities to have announced alignment of LP with any political party in the state.
The party chairman, who enjoined members of the public to disregard the statement credited to its governorship candidate, said all House of Assembly candidates of the party are still in the race, urging electorate to troop out en masse next Saturday to vote Labour Party.
According to him, “We’re here to set the record straight. Labour Party is a political party with ideology based on social justice and equality. Labour Party had not adopted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Shuaib Yaman Abdulahi, as said by Basambo Abubakar. He has no such authority to issue such statement on behalf of the party.
“We’re in a very sober mood right now because of our presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, who was massively voted for by Nigerians, but the Nigerian system came into being as usual.
“Currently, he’s challenging the result of the election in court. So, it’s morally wrong for us to come out and say we’re adopting another party for governorship election against the wish of our presidential candidate.”
The chairman also said the presidential candidate of the party had at no time mandated the party to work for PDP or any other political party in Nigeria.
“So, we’re not adopting the PDP candidate under any guise. Whoever has done so had done so at his own risk,” he stated.
