Our lives are in danger, Labour Party Chairman cries out
By Joy Okosieme
In the wake of the killing of Christopher Elehu, Labour Party(LP) candidate for the 2023 Imo State House of Assembly election by yet to be unidentified gunmen, LP National Chairman, Julius Abure Esq., declared on Sunday that his life and those of members are in danger.
The assassination of Elehu, LP candidate for Onuimo constituency on Friday, December 16, 2022 is coming barely two weeks after Mrs. Victoria Chintex, the women leader of the LP in Kaura LGA of Kaduna State, was murdered in her home by unknown assailants.
Abure in a statement released on Saturday said assault, harassment and killing of LP members was on the rise nationwide and was worrisome to say the least, noting that his request for protection by the police had gone without response even as officials of other political parties move around with police aides and escorts.
“The increased attack on Labour Party members and faithful is now alarming. Just a few weeks ago, our women leader in Kaura, Kaduna state was murdered in cold blood with the husband sustaining injuries and still in the hospital. About six weeks ago the senatorial candidate of our party in Ebonyi State was kidnapped after police took the responsibility for his arrest. This was after days of his incarceration, he is now released without any charges.
“The billboards of all our candidates across the country are being pulled down and destroyed. There is a series of attacks on the party members and leaders across the country, and the mother of it all is the murder of this candidate in Imo State”, Abure said in the statement.
The LP Chairman called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Inspector General of Police and heads of other security agencies, especially the Department of State Services(DSS) to protect Labour Party, its leaders, and members.
Mr. Abure said election is not ado-or-die matter adding that the government must ensure that a level playing field is created for all political parties, both those in power and those not in power.
Paraphrasing the words of Nigeria’s most revered statesmen, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Abure said the opposition is the soul of democracy and that if there is no opposition, there is no democracy. Therefore he said, the government in power must not only protect those in government but also opposition party members.
“As of today, a lot of our candidates have no police protection, even me as the National Chairman, all my application to have police that was approved, yet none has been drafted to me. As the Chairman of one of the most popular political parties, I still do not have security assigned to me. Our officers are exposed, our members are exposed and with the high level of insecurity now, we have become very vulnerable.
“So we are calling on the President to use his good office as well as security agencies to secure Labour Party, all its candidates, party members and supporters so that we can have a hitch-free election.
“This is important because, the series of attacks on the Labour Party members, shows that there might never be a hitch-free election. It is a serious threat to democracy. Democracy offers the citizens the opportunity to make choices and vote for candidates of their choice, so when they are been harassed, their leaders are killed, and viable contestants are killed, including their supporters, it means that democracy is under threat”, Abure said.
He said those in government swore to uphold the constitution and should therefore, provide security across the country so that our democracy would not be in jeopardy. He noted that it would not be in the interest of anyone, particularly those who will be in government tomorrow to allow the democracy to be threatened.
