In this exclusive interview, the National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Barrister Julius Abure, spoke on money politics and how prepared the party is for the forthcoming general elections.
Excerpts of the chat:
How prepared is the Labour Party (LP) for the 2023 general elections?
We are ready. The campaign materials are ready. We are ready intellectually and physically. We have flagged off our campaign like you saw in Lafia(Nasarawa State capital). On the 9th November we will be in Benue. On the 10th November, we will be in Abia. On the 11th November we will be in Benin City. That’s why I have come. To see how I can put my people to start working. This is my state I cannot afford to fail. I should get 100 percent from my people. That’s why I am here to mobilise my people, energise them so that they can start working towards the rally of Edo on the 11th.
In all these we are ready, our programmes are ready. I want to say very clearly that our programmes are the most robust. All the challenges confronting the country have been articulated and discussed. Even as I speak here I can articulate our programme that we believe can turn the fortunes of the country. Like we have always done. All our campaigns will be centred on the issues of insecurity, unity of the country, economy, Education, health etc. We are ready and we have commenced the process of mobilising the people. The very beautiful thing about the Labour Party campaign this time is that this is the first time you will be having campaigns driven by the people.
Of course it has been the dream of the founding fathers of LP which I am part of because from the beginning of the party I was there. We actually have this dream and this vision to have a party that would be people driven. To have a party that would be people funded. To have a party that the people would dictate what they want because part of the challenge that we have in this country is that all other political parties, the dorminant ones, so to say, are controlled by moneybags, godfathers. These godfathers dictate who gets what in those political parties. Therefore, they recruit their cronies, competence, integrity and character are all compromised for the godfather.
So, we have had this dream of having a party that would be driven by the people. Because we believe very strongly that if the party is driven by the people and funded by them then of course the people would be at liberty to pick the best candidate that would represent the party and therefore the country will have the best. The numerous challenges that we have in the country is because we have no internal democracy in the other political parties. They pick anybody to be in the House of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and even Governors. Therefore, they have no mind of their own and are unable to act in the interest of the country. They act in the interest of the godfathers. That’s one of the reasons we have numerous challenges in the country.
With all the indices in place we didn’t have any problem picking Peter Obi as our best bet for the Presidency. As it stands out today LP parades the best of candidates. Some of them are fresh. The old ones we have are those without baggage. They have no criminal records. Are not under investigation by the security agencies. As we speak today, Nigeria is not working for Nigerians. We are going to be involved in roadshows, town hall meetings etc. We are going to take our campaigns to the nooks and crannies of this country. In all aspects we are ready.
On politicians stockpiling money to buy votes
It is well known that our slogan is we don’t give Shishi. Part of the challenges that we have in the country is that we allow people who have stolen our resources to also use those resources against the people. They have used it over time to continue to emasculate us, continue to enslave us and put us in perpetual poverty. The greatest joy in this development is that the people have realised that they have been cheated all along. They are moving away from that situation. People steal money and when elections come they come with bags of rice, N5,000 to induce the people to vote for them. We want to believe that we have got to the level where such things will not work. We want to believe that the people will not accept that situation this time because there is a statement that you can fool some of the people some time but you cannot fool them all the time. They have fooled us for so long and the people have seen clearly that the money they’re using to induce them is the money that has been stolen. That’s why we are happy that LP is driven by the people and owned by the people. They are the ones to lead the campaign.
I want to believe that money will play some role but will not play a major role. Money will play its role in other parts. For example in organising campaign and logistics. No doubt these require money. But bribing the people to get their votes will be extremely difficult. I encourage the people to collect the money because it is theirs. Collect it and vote your conscience.
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