Chief Patrick Eholor(aka Ultimate Equals), a Labour Party(LP) chieftain and one of the supporters of the aspiration of Barrister Olumide Akpata to govern Edo State in 2024, has finally called it quits with partisan politics.
In this chat with Popular News he gives an insight on why he took the decision.
Excerpts:
There’s so many disappointments. From the electorates, from the INEC, from the lecturers we trusted to be non partisans because we want a credible election. They all compromised. The security agencies were not different. It was a difficult decision to make. The election, as my candidate, Olumide Akpata, described it, was a transaction not an election. There’s a difference between transacting business and election.
You can also see that the weaponisation of poverty has really gone deep down in our citizens whether young or old. They have become a conquered people. They’re so poor. Not just materially but spiritually poor. You can buy their conscience. They’re in need of it.
There is a difference between what you want and what you need. Need can be like blood or water. Wants are luxuries that you can do without. When people are in need of N30,000 and there’s no means of getting it they are ready to sell their blood and soul. That’s what happened.
The judiciary is not also stable. Look at what’s playing out in Rivers State where you have multiple judgments. Wike is flexing his power and Fubara is flexing his own power. The citizens are going through the pains and suffering of the unrest that they have created in the state.
When I looked at all these scenarios…what finally nailed it is that some courts in their wisdom have reaffirmed Julius Abure as Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) with his illegality of conducting some kangaroo congress which was not acceptable and after that the party came together and said Alex Otti, Peter Obi, Senator Neda Imasuen etc to converge at Umuahia that they should going and have a meeting that we’re going to have a different convention with everybody on board. We thought we were on the right track.
If you head a place and there’s a heat, an unrest because of you what you do is to sacrifice if you believe if you believe in the cause. Abure should have bowed down, take a leave, tell us that we can do a different congress. The respect would be with him. He probably would become a member of the BoT in the future as a former National Chairman. He would always be relevant and have a say.
But he threw everything out by clinging to the position as if he’s a monarch. Not thinking that a lot of obidients who had really made the LP work have come to realise that there’s no difference between the PDP, APC and LP if not the LP is even the worst where somebody cannot resign with these weighty allegations being investigated by FCID (Force Criminal Investigation Department), EFCC(Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) with a lot of court judgments etc. How is he going to lead the people?
I see that this power tussle will not end. I will not say anything that is bad about my country. I will stay out of partisan politics. I have seen that there’s nothing different between the LP and the other parties.
You can see how LP scored zero votes in some areas. Olumide bought 18 vehicles for these people. One vehicle in each of the 18 local government areas of the state. He was helping everybody. If other people voted against us what happened to our own people.Â
They betrayed us and these are the people we were trying to save. I discovered that they will never change. So, I need to focus on my business, write articles, criticise things that need to be criticised constructively. I don’t hate anybody. I love people. It’s only that I want an egalitarian society.
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