 Ahead of the Gov. election in Imo State, the factional leadership of the Labour Party in the state says it's been strategic in its efforts to take over power from the all-progressive Congress-led state government. Confusion trailed the Gov. primary of the Labour Party in Imo State as three factions held the party's primary election in different locations in the state. Ten of the aspirants settled for the landmark event centre at New Ulwiri, where their delegates for the election, while three other aspirants held their elections differently along MCC Road, Urata in Ulwiri North's local government area. Joining us now to discuss this is Nzee Akujobi Ikechiku Siru. He is the Imo State Chairman of the Labour Party. He's apparently the factional chairman. Thank you so much Nzee for joining us. Good evening. Thank you for having me. It's interesting that the Labour Party that many would have made reference to as the third force or more like a saviour of sorts in terms as far as political parties go, would not be found in this kind of embryo, but this is the case where we've had parallel primaries held for the same elections. Explain to me why this came to be. I thank you very much for the question, but I must confess it's very, very unfortunate. All these issues I will tell you is from the national executive, the former national executive that we have overwhelmed by the social support Labour Party. You know in socials you have to be able to manage it, otherwise you will have problems with it. So that's the only thing I have to say from now on. But further, if I must say something about it, our former national chairman, Paris Tachilo Sarpouli, messed the system up and that is the problem we are going through today. But we are trying to do a kind of crisis management. Thank God he shot himself on the feet and the court of confidentialization told him to step aside and the national working committee raised another person, somebody I would call a godsend to redeem the image of the party and that is what we have been going through since then. Thank you very much. How is this addressing the situation in the party? Because from what we know or what has been reported in the news, you had a four-way parallel primary. And so whether we like it or not, even though it might be that the court has allowed you to contest this election, there are still people who have freed nerves, there are people who are unhappy with the system, as you have clearly stated that this might be a problem from the top. But now that the top has fixed someone new, how is he addressing the issues and of course trying to mend fences? Is there any such thing happening right now? If I understand it very well, you mean what is the fate of the most state... Labour Party in general, yes. Having been clearly stated by the court of confidentialization and by us and the most state that Alaji Bashirapapa is the authentic acting national chairman, it simply means which they have voiced out as well that Chief Ikechukujosefu Kebu is the authentic candidate of Labour Party in the most state. Having emerged from the primaries of 16th of April 2023, which was conducted by the National Working Committee led by Alaji Bashirapapa and not the one on the 15th, which was conducted by the Aburi-led executive. So now having called that one clear and having advised INEC to do the needful, we are a camp party now, even though in one of the press conferences I gave, I said I've come to reconcile those that grieve the vote because I know that people are grieved. You cannot pay 25 million Naira and the claims went the other way around and you'll be happy. But I'm working hard to make sure that I reconcile everybody because election is a let's go team, not a woman business. So all of us are coming together, I assure you that in little than no time, Labour Party must stay to be an enviable party that will win this election come November 11, 2023. I always like to and do not take this the wrong way. If you are as a party, do not necessarily have your house in order, how are you able to convince the average voter who obviously might not necessarily be having it good? I mean, we'll get to talking about what's happening in more states in a few minutes, but how do you try to get the average voter convince them to vote for you when your house is on fire? In fact, as far as I'm concerned, we are doing our best because the Labour Party executive people, they are coming together to do justice to the reconciliation agenda we have and I believe you people in the media, you help us to like this interview I'm granting, you help us to aid so that people will sincerely see the truth. Like me, you know the problem is that when you don't know what is inside the house and you come and start operating from outside, you mess everything up. I joined Labour Party 2014, even before they had been a sympathiser of Labour Party, but I officially joined 2014 and I've been consistent with the party. Then somebody can not just come today and tell me that he will know the constitution or the runnings of the party more than me. And this, our President and National Chairman joined this party inception, they are the inaugural members of Labour Party since 2002. So nobody will say he's a new president or he just came from the blue. Even Abura himself joined a little ago, he joined around the 2007. He has been a member but I'm not envying him for being the National Chairman but he messed everything up. That's why this thing. And a court of competent division in a city in Abuja Khabibat territory said you are restrained from parodying yourself and the three of us. And he still continues in misleading his cohort and his followers. That is what is causing the problem but I think in little time like he has seen the truth and he's facing his case now. Everybody will know that Labour Party is in peace and we don't have distractions again. Let's talk about the capabilities of the Labour Party in Imo State. As we know, the Imo State obviously has its own fair share of troubles. Imo State does have a sitting governor who is of the ruling party. You also have of course candidates from other political parties that would be up against the Labour Party. So my question is how do you hope to surmount all of this because like you started at the beginning to say that the Labour Party's success is what has somewhat become its destruction. I didn't quite understand what you meant by success. Is it the success of its spread and you know the following or what exactly were you talking about and how will this play out in Imo State in terms of getting the votes of the people? The true position in Imo State, if I understand what you mean, is that there is no gain saying that the citizens of Imo State are not happy. You cannot go to your house and sleep and close your eyes and even operating the roads, you are not safe, you are not sure of getting to your house from one point to the other because of the demons and the bloodletting and whatever. So we are telling the people we can do it and they know that the Labour Party being a Social Democratic Party is a human-based party. You know like this thing is our slogan is Papa Mama Peking and it's enshrined in our logo. So we are human-based party who want to work for Imo State people and we want to show them how governance should be run. But the issue is that the incumbent, you don't underestimate the powers of the incumbent. We respect him for that but the truth is that these people want to know what you do for them and we know what we can do for them and that is what we are telling them. We want to at least put Imo State in a state that people will believe tomorrow, people will hope to see tomorrow, not just being afraid of what will happen tomorrow. So hunger is killing people in Imo State. Apart from hunger, you are not safe in your house. Some areas in Imo State, even in that old zone that the incumbent is from, some houses have been bamboozled and the citizens have run away. That is the ones that lead those, some of them are dead. Even recently in Noguta they bombed a lot of places. Even yesterday in Imo Piso, Arizona, a sitting monad was hacked down by Ngu. And you tell me you are the chief secretary of Imo State. It's unfortunate. Thank you for bringing that up. Thank you for bringing that up because I was going to talk about Imo State. Imo State has gradually become a hotbed of insecurity. You would call them all sorts of names, terrorists. You'd call them unknown Godmen. I mean the latest is to sit at home. I mean I think I heard the Enugu State governor put out a statement today saying yesterday urging its citizens to go out and do their businesses. And if any of them were caught sitting at home or businesses were seen shot, those businesses or those premises will be reclaimed by government. But the big question is why are the governors in the southeast allowing for some faceless men to take over the state and cost this level of mayhem if they are supposed to be the ones who protect light and property? That would prove to you that a man cannot give up if he doesn't have. The truth is that the incumbent in Imo State, who have tried him for four years, he doesn't have managerial ability that can make peace in Imo State. So we have to bring in another person. And I'm happy the citizenry, the leaders of Imo State, they are coming together to say let us try another person because if you have a home that you give somebody to manage for you and you couldn't manage it. The best thing is to put that person and you put another manager because the goodness of a home depends largely on the manager. So I'm 100 percent sure the candidate of level party, Chief Ikechuku Josephu Kebu, is the best hand for now to manage their affairs of Imo State and redeem them from the eminent blunder that will come more or less if we make any mistake. And that is why somebody like me is pleading with all our sundry to come together. We have a common enemy. We cannot deny that. So let us set aside what is happening in the level party and let us come openly and sincerely face our common enemy and achieve good for the citizens because you cannot say you are running a party and the citizens are crying every day. I mean it's something that we have to look in order to know what is wrong. And we know now that the wrong thing is that the government, based on what General Abacha said at the time, the government are for compromise. He said any problem, any fracas, any insecurity that last more than 72 hours in the state or in the government, that the government is at work and they have compromised. So that's what I believe. The government hasn't compromised. Why are these killings for four years now? Finally, before I let you go, as a citizen of Imo State and someone who's from the southeast extraction of this country, what exactly do you think that the governors of the East South, Eastern State are not getting right or overlooking, which has allowed for this insecurity to continue? Because I mean the federal government on one hand has sent security operatives, soldiers, but then just as you said there needs to be some form of synergy and cooperation. Sometime last year the Southeast Governors Forum had a tea party, that's what I call it, saying that they were going to deal with the situation in the Southeast. But here we are almost a year down the line. Nothing has really changed. What do you think the missing ingredient is? The missing thing is that you cannot run Imo State from Imo State. You cannot run Imo State from Imo State. Every state is peculiar to their problem. Like all these things they are doing, it is different in Imo State, it's different in Imo State, it's different in Imo State. The basic truth is that a sitting governor who is the chief security officer of that state should plan the best way to handle his security system and mash it up. But the basic truth is that they are even running Imo State, that the incumbent is hiring local vigilante from across border to run the state. It doesn't work out that way. So let us use our local content, what we have here. In my village, the village in the head knows almost all the criminals in that village. So you cannot go from to another village to bring people to try to attract those criminals. I believe that the government in Imo State, with all the security apparatus around him and available to him, he should know who is who and he should know how to control this thing. But when he cannot do it or he has compromise, then we don't have alternative than to bring in another person. We don't have option at all than to bring in another person and let another try. And I'm sure chief execution of the candidate of Labour Party, we do justice to that. And everybody will be happy after January 2024, swear in it. It sounds very political to me and I don't blame you because you're a politician to say, oh, you know, everything would change after the elections. What happens in the interim? Just as you said, what happens to the family of the chief team that was hacked to death? What happens to people who go about their business, they want to open their shop because they want to earn a living and be able to feed their families and then they're beaten and bastard and sometimes killed in the process. What happens in the interim to those people? Because you see, we're very short-sighted. Everybody's looking at their own win. What about the general interests of the average emo person or the average person in the southeast? Because you keep talking about the elections but in the interim, what are parties like you or the Labour Party and other parties willing to do to help the situation right now in the interim as opposed to waiting till your person is sworn into office if he gets into that position and then you can come up with the, let's say, the bright idea. What happens now? This is my question. In fact, after this interview, my team have planned to pay the family visit tomorrow and the basic truth is this, the sitting government, the incumbent government, still has up to November, January to stay in that position. So what we'll be doing is to sympathize with the families and praying to God that at least we'll be remaining some people who still remain to that day. Because with the rate of attains now, myself that you're saying here, I'm not even 100% safe but I know that God has my life. Nobody can take it from me unless you are God. But the basic truth is that we are working hard. It is not one man, it's not my fight I do. Even that family that I've lost somebody, would they be happy to lose more people? So all of us must come together. You know, you know, it has happened, it has happened. And it's very unfortunate, everybody should criticize it. But the basic truth is that to save the remaining people who are working hard to make sure that everybody come together, let us leave this still working for our structure. He's sharing money, like they said, even that year, they swore in 247 special assistance. What are they going to do in government acts? So the people that have been doing that work, those works, they pray for years now. They are not doing anything. Okay, so all of them are bringing people. You see that he's distributed sharing money, our common patrimony to people that he wants to better their stomach and buy them over. It doesn't work like that. I know that people, I believe that people will still collect those with money and do the needful. Finally, finally, I just want to quickly ask you, you can choose not to answer. Do you think that if the federal government were to release Namdi Kanu as the court has ordered, it would one way or the other quail the situation in the Southeast? Or is this beyond Namdi Kanu? Let me tell you another, let me give another shock. I am not 100% sure that it's IPOB that I've been doing this, you know, the non-roman IPOB because they have continuously denied that it's not them. Maybe somebody somewhere is putting his own people to scatter the place so that he will be using the crisis to fuel his security vote and the rest of them to cover these monies he's spending. Are you one way or the other accusing the governor of fueling the insecurity in emo states? Is that what you're accusing the governor of? People have accused him separately. Even the man they're calling, he can't go to Gochini from Nidato, not outside the federal security. He has accused him openly, hasn't come to contest him. He said he's in that he has compromised. He's a problem of our security system in emo states. Why would a governor want to kill his own people? Why would a governor orchestrate these level of killings of his own people? To what end? I don't know. I don't know. But what I know is that, like the question you put before, if the federal government should obey the law, the court and the others that have said releasing nandekado, at least we will not know definitely if such a thing happens again. IPOB, you said it's not you now. We have released your man. Why is this thing still happening? Then from there, even the IPOB can't help flesh out all these people, black melancholy. But for now, I'm telling you the truth, there is problem in emo states. And we must do something about it. And there is nothing best to do than to say, this man, you have tried your best and your best is not enough. Go, let another take over. Thank you very much. Finally, looking at the Tinnable administration, which is 40 plus days in office. Do you think that he has the wherewithal to face squarely what's happening in the South East? And of course, do you think that he will pay attention to Watohanezi and the rest of the people have been advocating for? That is the release of Nandekano. Do you think that the Tinnable will be in a position to do that? Personally, or every woman that is saying don't release Nandekano, he says that it's not the true son of people, because whatever happened, the young man, if the court has said he's free, why don't you leave him? Is your own court, you set up the court and the court have said release him? Why don't you leave him? Why should they be holding him? That's what we're asking. Whether or not, any averageable man should say release Nandekano. The three cannot make efforts. If you release Nandekano to Hanezi or as you can sit him down and say my son, what is the problem? We can negotiate these things. But everybody knows that the Shapiro, or just Ocalo was crying on camera the other day that they could have marginalized him. But you see, so every people, citizens have been marginalized. But the truth is that we must come together to forge ahead and fight a normal cause. If we fight from left, from right, we might not get there. But unity will stand. So if the averageable man will come together and they march to Asu Rock, I think, I see what you're listening to them. But when they are on side, they have somebody they call, I've forgotten the young man's name, and they don't know who or somebody like that. But when he did what he did, they posted and they released him. So let them release this young man to the Hanezi people who is our cultural organization here. They can discuss with you and whatever will normalize it. It might be another thing. Okay. All right. Well, I want to say thank you. Nze Akojobi Iketi-Kustirio is the Emo State Chairman of the Labour Party. He's a fractional chairman of the Labour Party. We want to say thank you for joining us on the conversation tonight. Thank you very much. But I'm not the national chairman. I'm the authentic Congress-produced chairman of the Labour Party Emo State who have been reinstated. I wouldn't remove me out of his money because I don't know the truth. But I've been partying and called me back. So I'm not fractional. I'm not that chairman of the Emo State now than myself. Okay. Well, thank you very much for coming on the show. We appreciate it. Well, that's it on the show tonight. My name is Mary Ann Ako. Thank you all for being part of the show. Don't forget, you can play catch up on all of our previous episodes. Just go to PLOS TV Africa on YouTube, like, subscribe and follow all of our programs. Have a good evening.