By: Imo Thomas -Umuahia.
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has told the Abure-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) to give peace a chance.
This is coming on the heels of the unnecessary interpretations being given to the Supreme Court judgment that sacked Bar. Julius Abure led a faction of the Labour Party over the weekend.
Governor Otti made this appeal over the weekend while inaugurating the New Leadership of Abia Arise organization, adding that the Labour Party is bigger than every member.
“The party (LP) is bigger and more important than any of us put together. The triumph of evil over good is for a moment. So, we thank God for yesterday. We somehow believed that justice would be done to the Labour Party.
“I was watching and saw some people making some claims about them not being removed by the Supreme Court. We can as well ignore them, but I will not ignore them.
“I want to appeal to them to give peace a chance, except if what they wanted in the first place is to destroy the party, and if they want to destroy the party, they will destroy themselves, and the party will become even stronger.”.
Governor Alex Otti inaugurated the Abia Arise State Executive, Zonal and Local Government Coordinators with Mazi Nkem Okoro as State Chairman, Mrs. Sophia Chidinma Ikpeama as Vice Chairman, and Dr. Sylvester Ibeneme as Secretary, among other officials.
He congratulated them for being found worthy to serve as leaders of Abia Arise, which is the grassroots support structure of his administration. He explained the reason for inaugurating the new leadership and charged the new leaders to be committed to delivering on their mandate.
“The decision to appoint new leaders was to inject new blood into the organization to continually engage the people and get feedback to promote good governance in the State.
“Every community matters to us. So, we have appointed you to become our eyes and ears in your various localities, working closely with other stakeholders to enable us to serve our people better.
“Your role will be very crucial in maintaining our grassroots support base and we encourage you to take it seriously.
“Your job will be to go into the communities and galvanize the support that we would need to consolidate on the immense gain that has been recorded in the last 22 months,” Gov. Otti stated.
The State Chief Executive noted that, though he has done everything in the State and had raised the bar in governance within the last 22 months in office, there is still a need to sustain and consolidate the gains. He, therefore, harped on the need for teamwork and warned against infighting and internal bickering to ensure and protect the essence of setting up the organization in 2013, which is tailored towards the development of Abia State.
He noted that Abia Arise was instrumental to his team’s migration to the Labour Party and contributed immensely to the campaign and electoral victory of 2023.
The Governor charged the Leadership to prioritize activities that would give the structure visibility in all LGAs while assuring that the board of trustees of the organization would provide the necessary support that would assist Abia Arise to succeed.
Responding on behalf of his colleagues, the Chairman of Abia Arise, Mazi Nkem Okoro, expressed his profound gratitude to the Governor and his leadership style, which has affected the people positively. He further commended the Governor for selecting men of competence and capacity to drive his vision in government.
The Chairman promised to serve as the backbone of the Governor’s political engagements and ensure that the Governor succeeds in the State.
