6 LP leaders break ranks with Eradiri, back Diri

Six out of the eight local government chairmen of the Labour Party in Bayelsa State have dumped the party’s governorship candidate, Udengs Eradiri, over alleged exclusion of the party executives and structure in the governorship campaign.

The Party Chairmen, Super Kworkwor (Yenagoa), Ifiemi Ilahnyog (Southern Ijaw), Clinton Naru Emesua (Ogbia), Tamuno Deifugha (Kolokuma/Opokuma), Warri Moses (Sagbama) and Appi Ebierelayefa Stephen (Nembe), also accused the party governorship candidate of deliberate refusal to inaugurate campaign council but appointed only a two-man campaign structure which he used as mere errand boys.

In a statement issued in Yenagoa yesterday, the party leaders said despite several invitations to appear before the State Executives of the party and advice on needed synergy with party officials, Eradiri openly insulted, embarrassed and rejected every advice offered him to enable the party participate in the campaign activities.

“Our candidate lacks the maturity that is required to be the governor of Bayelsa State. Yes, we agree that he is well educated and has experience but maturity is zero. He is too petty, fault-finding, quick tempered, impatient and very argumentative. Our candidate does not believe in our party or its leadership. He abuses and castigate the party leaders both in private and in public. Even the national leaders are like children as far as our candidate is concerned.

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“The governorship candidate of our party in Bayelsa State deceived us about his financial preparedness to contest this governorship election. Every Bayelsan knows the enormous financial implication of contesting for the position of a governor of a state. The candidate is also 100 per cent aware that the party has depleted its resources in the last presidential election and he ought to also know to have come prepared. Instead, he came and was asking the party what we have brought to the table.

On his part, Eradiri said he was not worried about the party leaders’ defection, labelling them as “betrayers, who can trade anything for parochial gains.”

“I don’t know how to do party politics, it is so unfortunate that Bayelsa is in this state,” he said.

But one of Eradiri’s loyalists, John Toby, who doubles as the Chairman of the Forum of LP Local Government Chairmen in Bayelsa, alleged that the aggrieved party leaders decided to break ranks after collecting N100m from the state governor ahead of the election, an allegation the leaders denied.

He said: “As we predicted, these exco members went to the governor and collected N100m to endorse him and disown our candidate, Udengs Eradiri, in a press conference.

“But God has already thrown heavy confusion in their midst because as we speak, they are fighting over the money. They came back and declared N50m to others and claimed that they sent N50m to the national headquarters of our party,” he alleged.