Stakeholders in the party have ousted the troubled interim chairman of the Labour Party in Bayelsa State, Eneyi Zidougha.
During a state congress conducted at the party secretariat in Yenagoa on Thursday, Zidougha was dismissed due to claims of misappropriating party funds, engaging in anti-party actions, and arbitrarily switching candidates for the upcoming general elections in 2023.
A complete vote of no confidence in Zidougha resulted in the election of Ebi Sikpi, a former vice chairman of the LP in the Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, as the party’s substantive state chairman.
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The meeting was duly called, according to Theophilus Taribo, state assistant secretary of LP, and Zidougha’s dismissal was legal.
He said, “The congress followed due constitutional provision; the congress include the state executive members and local government council members. The composition of the congress was constitutional.”
Prior to the elections, the new chairman, Ebi Sikpi, thanked the stakeholders for believing he was qualified to lead and serve the LP.
He stressed that the party has been repositioned for the challenges ahead and pledged to bring harmony and togetherness back to the organization as well as resolve members’ complaints.
In addition, Sikpi promised to work hard with LP officials, stakeholders, and supporters to ensure Peter Obi, the party’s presidential candidate, and others running for office on the party’s platform, win the elections.
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“I have accepted to serve because we want the tensions to be doused, and I want the party to forge ahead. We will look at the issues members are aggrieved about and address them one after another.
“We will make sure the party is united for the election of our principal, Peter Obi. There is hope, light has come to the party in Bayelsa State,” he said.
Before the congress, several LP members held a peaceful demonstration outside the party secretariat’s gate under the banner of Concerned Labour Party Critical Stakeholders in the State after certain security personnel allegedly refused to let them inside due to orders from the deposed chairman.
Abraham Gillet, the group’s leader, voiced concern over the prohibition and claimed that the party secretariat was not Zidougha’s private property.
He asserted that the former chairman’s alleged actions had caused the LP to lose a significant amount of support in the state, and that it was appropriate for him to resign or be removed from office.
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Lamenting the denial of access in the first instance, Gillet said, “We have all come here (to the party secretariat) for a congress, which the state chairman is fully aware of. But to our greatest surprise, when we got here the secretariat was locked with padlocks and security operatives.
“We take that as an insult and attempt to kill Labour Party and Obidient Movement. If they love peace they would have allowed us to go in and discuss as young men and women and get it right.”
Zidougha is supposedly an adversary of the party, according to the women’s leader in Bayelsa Central, Linda Lazarus, and the secretary of the LP in the Sagbama Local Government Area, Stephen Morris.
Zidougha responded by insisting he was still in command of LP and claiming his expulsion was unlawful and devoid of due process.
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He said, “My purported removal is unconstitutional and did not follow due process. They did not get approval to hold any congress. Who called for the congress? I am still in charge.”
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