From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Comrade Julius Abure, the national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has expressed sadness over what he claims to be an organised onslaught on LP members in several states of the nation and called on Nigerians to pray for the party.
Abure spoke while receiving a delegation of Interfaith clerics at the party’s National Secretariat, in Abuja, on Thursday.
The clerics, consisting of Bishops and Imams from Abuja Kaduna, Nasarawa, and other states, visited the LP to pledge support for the party’s candidates and pray for their victory in the 2023 general election.
Speaking at the event, the LP chairman said: “I want to say that since I have been the leader of the Labour Party today is my best day. I say so because this prayers are coming at the nick of time. We are already under serious attacks. Our followers are under attacks, and just yesterday, were telling ourselves we that we were going to go public to appeal to Nigeria’s religious leaders to pray for us.
“Three days back, the presidential candidates and the vice presidential candidates went to Kaduna to attend to function. Some of us who came from Zaria on their way back were involved in an accident and about three or four of our members died. Others are hospitalized.
“Since we started this movement, people thought it was a joke. But now they have seen that it’s no longer a joke. Initially they said we had no structure. Now they have seen that human beings are our structure. So when they are in their closets, it is labor party they are discussing and we are getting information that they are going to fight us, they are going to raise guns.
“They have designated some states that they want to start fighting our members. As I speak to you, that have been invaliding have been some of our members in their homes in Lagos. We have had attacks in Akwa Ibom, in Ebonyi, in Enugu and several other states. And that was why we told ourselves yesterday immediately we rose from the Presidential council meeting, that we were going to appeal to Nigerians to pray for us because we know for sure that the time of God has come, the time of the people have come. We have suffered enough.
Abure pointed out that while many people feel that political campaigns shouldn’t reference the past, doing so would be inappropriate as “You cannot treat an ailment without proper diagnosis. You cannot talk about solutions without looking at the challenges.
“ I want to say clearly that these challenges are man-made. They are leadership in afflicted, leadership deduced challenges. For instance, in the area of security for instance it is the failure of leadership, people are kidnapped and phone calls are made yet no arrest.
“In the economy, we are suffering from a double-digit inflation, and people are hungry.
“For us in the Labour Party, we believe Nigeria had what it takes to ensure that no Nigerian goes to bed hungry even if we can’t build skyscrapers, we can grow food to feed ourselves.”
The LP National Chairman further said said that APC and the PDP are owned by money bags who sit in the comfort of their homes and decide who becomes what politically.
“We formed the LP to bring succour to Nigerians. For us in Labour Party we are ready to provide leadership, we are prepared to take Nigeria to where it ought to be.
“I say without fear of contradiction that the LP has the best presidential candidate in the person of Mr. Peter Obi.
“We dare say no amount of tear gas, attacks and intimidation can stop an idea whose time has come.
“We must look at the age and the health of candidates because we cannot handover a sick country to sick people.
“People who have started rushing to hospitals outside the country even before campaigns start proper.
“The Labour Party has what it takes to change the reality not just the perception. For many decades, the political oligarchy in this country have been using religious and ethnic divisions to divide us.
“When Buhari took over in 2015 the number of out of school children was between 7-10 million but today, 7 years after this number has jumped to over 20 million with most of them in the North. This is not about religion or ethnicity, it is about taking back our country.” He started.
In his remarks earlier, one of the leaders of the delegation representing the Christain faith, Archbishop Leonard Kawas explained that their visit was first to pray for the party and it’s leadership and pledge their support.
“We are not fake bishops, we are real. We are here to pray for the party and the leadership, we are just Representatives of millions of members across Nigeria.
“Heven examined all the candidates of the political parties, we have come to a conclusion that the Labour Party has done the right thing for Nigeria by presenting the most credible candidates.” He said.
His Muslim counterpart, Sheikh Murtala Mahmoud said, “We want Nigerians to try a new person, Peter Obi is new. We want unity between Christians and Muslims in the interest of Nigeria that is why we are here. This our movement is a long time one to bring harmony between the various religions in Nigeria. We cannot support the Muslim-muslim ticket ticket because it is only driven by the selfish interest of one person.”