TheCable

The Labour Party (LP) has asked Nigerian workers to join the struggle to reclaim the “stolen mandate” of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the party.

Obiora Ifoh, LP’s acting national publicity secretary, in a statement on Monday, said only the administration of the party could end strikes and prioritise the welfare of the citizens.

“The Labour Party leadership wants to use this May Day occasion to felicitate Nigerian workers for holding on till today. We also want to use this opportunity to appreciate all the workers and all the progressive elements in the country for supporting our presidential candidate, HE Peter Obi and the Labour Party to win the presidential election even though the mandate was stolen,” the statement reads.

“We want to appreciate the workers profusely for this massive support. All these feats would not have been possible were it not because of the support of Nigerian workers and the Nigerian people.

“Today as we speak, the minimum wage for workers can not take workers home. N30,000 minimum wage is an insult to the workers. It can’t take workers home, a bag of rice as we speak today is N40,000 and the minimum wage is N30,000.

“This 2023 general election would have been the turning point in the history of Nigerian workers but for the forces of darkness that have severally put in abeyance the dreams of Nigeria and the people, Nigerians are still being frustrated.

“So we assure the workers that all hope is not lost. We will continue to struggle knowing that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We believe very strongly that very shortly, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.

“We have had enough of protests and strikes in Nigeria. Workers must work hard and fight for a Labour government because it is only when we have a Labour Party government that workers will heave a sigh of relief from their suffering, poor wages, poor working conditions and the situation they found themselves in currently.

“Therefore all workers must be united with Labour Party to struggle for this mandate that has been stolen from us and to ensure the sustenance of concentrated engagement until a Labour government is engaged.

“Labour Party is therefore using this opportunity to once more congratulate the workers for the May Day celebration and to reassure them that for us in Labour Party, we will not rest on our oars until we recover our stolen mandate and reposition the country for greatness and effective service delivery.”

Peter Obi came third in the February 25 election with 6,101,533 votes behind Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who won the contest with 8,794,726 votes and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came third scoring 6,984,520 votes.

Both Obi and Abubakar have approached the election petitions tribunal to challenge the outcome of the election.