The leader of the Labour Party (LP) caucus in the House of Representatives, Hon Victor Afam Ogene has denied claims that the party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi directed the caucus to vote for any aspirant in the National Assembly leadership race.
Ogene, while responding to media reports that Obi directed members-elect on who to vote for as speaker, said while the meeting with the presidential candidate held on Monday night, he did not coerce any of them to vote for any prefered candidate as “wrongly” stated in the report.
The member-elect said the notion that Obi called for the meeting to press home his demands on the need to vote Senator Abdul Aziz Yari as Senate President and Hon. Muktar Betara Aliyu as speaker as “a lie from the pit of hell.”
He said, “On my honour, if Mr. Peter Obi as much as gave any such order, we would have gladly carried it out, and offer a robust defense of the decision as a party, but in the instant case, he never did, so why the splitting of hairs?
“In fact, the insinuation that Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party(LP), is coercing Members-Elect of the House of Representatives to vote for a particular candidate in the Speakership race is a lie which is beneath contempt.
“Yes, as a Caucus, we met last night, but not at Mr. Obi’s behest. The notice of meeting was sent out by the National Chairman of Labour Party, Barrister Julius Abure, and Mr. Obi was only invited as National Leader of the Party.
“After virtually all 27 Members-Elect present at the meeting had taken turns to speak, Mr. Obi, who was the first to leave because of another engagement, advised members to ensure, as much as possible, that they are united in arriving at a decision regarding who to vote for as Presiding Officers.
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