Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has reaffirmed his loyalty to the Labour Party (LP), insisting that he remains a member of the party that brought him to office in the 2023 governorship election, despite recent defections by opposition governors to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Otti made the clarification on Thursday during his monthly media briefing, where he was asked about the ongoing leadership crisis within the Labour Party and speculation about possible defections.
While stressing his current commitment to the LP, the governor acknowledged the uncertainty of future political developments.
“We are not in an election period. If an election comes, we will still run under the Labour Party, but nobody knows tomorrow. But today, I am still in the Labour Party,” he said.
Addressing the party’s internal dispute, Otti restated his support for the faction that challenged the leadership of Julius Abure. “We are on the right side. We have maintained that Abure’s tenure has expired, and we went to court, which affirmed that,” he said.
According to him, the court ruling clearly settled the matter. “So, the court judgment confirmed that his tenure has expired and advised people to obey court decisions to save the courts from unnecessary troubles.”
The governor’s comments followed a recent judgment by the Federal High Court in Abuja, which recognised the Nenadi Usman-led national caretaker committee as the authentic leadership of the Labour Party. Otti belongs to the Usman-led faction.
In the ruling, the presiding judge, Peter Lifu, also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to formally recognise the Usman-led leadership of the party.
However, the leadership tussle is far from over, as the rival faction headed by Julius Abure has rejected the judgment and announced plans to challenge it at the Court of Appeal.
