The National Legal Adviser of the Labour Party, Mr. Samuel Akingbade, and the state’s women’s leader, Mrs. Susan Ojo, were suspended on Thursday by the Labour Party’s leadership in Osun State due to allegations that they were attempting to jeopardize a petition that LP presidential candidate Peter Obi had filed to challenge President Bola Tinubu’s election victory on February 25.
At a news conference held in Osogbo to announce the party’s decision, Adebayo Bello, the chairman of the Osun LP, claimed the executives had also suspended 11 local government chairmen of the party for attending a meeting intended to form a faction of the Labour Party.
He claimed that the sanctioned members sought to establish a faction in the Labour Party’s Osun chapter by disguising themselves behind the nationwide difficulties affecting the LP. Bello claimed that after learning of the officers’ action, the LP State Executives met on May 11 and decided to back the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee. Additionally, they suspend anyone proven to be opposed to the party’s unity.
The party chair said, “The intention is to create parallel structures at the national level and the states to lend support to the dirty agenda of scuttling the legal struggle of reclaiming the mandate of Mr. Peter Obi and Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed in the 2023 presidential election.
“We observe that if the activities of these undemocratic persons is not checked on time, it will either weaken the Labour Party structure in Osun or collapse it totally.
“Samuel Akingbade (National Legal Adviser), Mrs Susan Ojo (state Women Leader) and 11 chairmen of local government areas of our party in Osun State, who participated in a meeting organised by National Legal Adviser and suspended state Woman Leader, are hereby suspended from the party indefinitely.
“These members stand suspended for anti-party activities and gross misconduct. This decision will be forwarded to the National Working Committee of the Labour Party and other relevant bodies, including all security agencies for further actions.”
