2023: Abia govt asks Labour Party to change venue for rally

The Abia State Government has asked Labour Party (LP) in the state to change the venue of its planned rally scheduled to hold on Thursday.

The state chapter of the LP scheduled a rally to be held at Ngwa High School, Aba, for the flag-off of its governorship campaign in the state.

The LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and the party’s governorship candidate in the state, Alex Otti, are expected to attend the rally, alongside other candidates of the party.

But in a letter, dated 8 November and addressed to the state Chairperson of the LP, Ceekay Igara, by the Commissioner for Post Basic Education in the state, Israel Mark, the government said the rally would cause disruption of academic activities in the school.

Mr Mark explained that all public schools, including Ngwa High School, Aba, were still in an academic session.

“It will be wrong to set this bad precedent of chasing away our hard-working school children and their teachers in order to hold political rallies that will not only disrupt academic activities but also predispose school properties to vandalisation,” he said.

“We therefore wish to strongly advise that you immediately consider changing the venue of your planned event or seek another date when school children will not be in school,” the commissioner added.

The letter was copied to the Director, State Security Service in Abia State, Friday Onuche, and the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mustapha Bala.

Reacting to the development, the chairperson of the LP in Abia State, Mr Igara, told PREMIUM TIMES that the government was wrong in its position that the school was in academic session.

“The school is not in session. They are to resume on the 13th of November, which is far ahead of time,” he said.

Mr Igara said the Ngwa High School, Aba, where the rally was scheduled to hold, is a private institution owned by the Anglican Church and that the party obtained the approval of the school management before fixing the date for the rally.

He said the new twist is a strategy by the government to weaken the LP in the state and frustrate party members from holding the rally.

The Peoples Democratic Party is the ruling party in the state.

The LP chair added that the party was consulting to make sure that the appropriate things were done in the matter.

Asked if the party would go ahead with the rally in the school despite the government’s position, the LP chairman said, “For now, we have not changed any of our plans (to hold the rally).

“We got the approval from the school management and we have also paid all the necessary fees we needed to pay and students are not in session. So, there is nothing that should hold us down.”

LP has been enjoying growing followership in the South-east and other parts of Nigeria since Mr Obi emerged as the party’s presidential candidate.

The latest development comes about 24 hours after an opinion poll conducted by NOI Polls projected the LP candidate, Mr Otti, to win the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Some LP members have become targets of gunmen attacks in the South-east in recent times, mainly during the party’s political rallies in the region.

There are suspicions among the LP members that the attacks might have been sponsored by some members of opposition political parties in the South-east who are alleged to be disturbed by the growing popularity of LP in the region.