The Abia State government yesterday blamed its loss in the recent local government election to the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) to the crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) in the state.

Speaking on the election, which saw the ZLP sweep the poll with 15 chairmanship seats, leaving two for the YPP, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Uzor Nwachukwu, said it was the crisis that forced Labour Party’s best hands and Governor Alex Otti’s followers to join the other parties.

Nwachukwu said: “You are all aware of the crisis in the Labour Party. We know the challenges the party is going through. Before the election was declared, several of our supporters had joined other parties.

“As regards to the LP in Abia State, the Julius Abure camp had to go to court to get an injunction to continue as LP leaders. We don’t want to go into details, but it caused disaffection among our followers, who are some of our best. For us, whatever gives Abia State the leap forward, we support.

This is a Labour Party government but everything about politics is about governance. “By the time we came to the Labour Party, the party had not even a councillor as candidate, so it’s all about the person.

In 2015, APGA won more than half of the House of Assembly seats because of the personality of the governor.” On whether the governor was happy with the outcome, the commissioner said: “For the governor, it’s unfortunate that LP did not win; that the party had found itself in the crisis that led to the loss.”

Please follow and like us: