Valentine Ozigbo: LP is dying — more chieftains will leave party

Valentine Ozigbo, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship hopeful in Anambra, says the Labour Party (LP) is almost history. 

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, Ozigbo said LP is no longer what people see on the outside.

In February, Ozigbo resigned his membership of LP and joined the APC to contest for the Anambra governorship ticket.

In April, he lost the APC governorship ticket to Nicholas Ukachukwu who polled 1,455 votes at the party’s primary election.

Ozigbo, a former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Anambra 2021 governorship election, has filed a lawsuit against the APC over the outcome of the primary election.

Speaking about his defection, Ozigbo said some elected LP officials have confided in him that they are planning to dump the party.

The governorship aspirant said he joined the APC to serve as a “catalyst of change” in the party.

“LP is not exactly what people think they are seeing. I have made my case. Unfortunately, LP is almost in its dying days and over time people are going to see it,” he said.

“You can see how a lot of people are leaving the party. There is hardly any elected member of the party who I have spoken to that is intending to run his re-election campaign under the same platform.

“The Labour Party for me is in the past. I took a decision to go into APC not because I’m here to justify the actions of APC. I’m here as a catalyst for change.”

‘SOLUDO IS APGA BY DAY, APC AT NIGHT’

Ozigbo said there are speculations that President Bola Tinubu may be backing Chukwuma Soludo’s re-election bid, because of the latter’s opposition to the presidential ambition of Peter Obi, ex-LP presidential candidate.

Ozigbo accused Soludo, candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), of oscillating between the APC and APGA.

“I don’t want the type of deal where Soludo is APGA in the afternoon and APC at night. You create confusion. You are not strengthening the party,” he added.

“If you want to be a man, be a man. If you want to be a woman, be a woman. If Soludo wants to be APGA, be APGA. Be proud of your APGA.”