I remain in Labour Party, but future is uncertain — Otti

 

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has declared that he is still a member of the Labour Party (LP), stressing, however, that political alignments can change with time.

Otti made the remark on Thursday during his monthly media interaction while responding to questions on the lingering leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party, amid growing defections of opposition governors to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to the governor, the faction of the party to which he belongs is on the right side of the law, insisting that the tenure of the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee has expired.

“We have consistently maintained that Abure’s tenure has elapsed. We approached the court, and the court affirmed our position,” Otti said.

He explained that the court judgment advised all party members to respect judicial decisions in order to avoid unnecessary legal disputes.

“We are not in an election season. If elections were to hold today, we would still contest under the Labour Party. But nobody knows tomorrow. As of today, I remain in the Labour Party,” he added.

Otti’s comments followed a recent ruling by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, which recognised the Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee as the authentic leadership of the Labour Party.

The presiding judge, Justice Peter Lifu, also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Usman-led faction.

However, the rival Abure faction has faulted the judgment and announced plans to appeal the decision.