By Joseph Kingston
After about three years of inactivity, the Labour Party (LP) in Cross River state seems to have awakened from sleep by conducting state congress to bring on board fresh hands to run the affairs of the party for the next four years.
In the election which was keenly contested in Calabar, Mr. Austin Ibok defeated the erstwhile chairman of the party, Barrister Remi Agwazie, to emerge as chairman. Mr. Elijah Blackman was elected the new secretary, while Emmanuel Adi became the new treasurer.
Other newly elected officials were Madam Ashu Caroline as Women Leader and George Andoigwu, who was elected the youth leader of the party.
Addressing the delegates shortly after the election, Ibok said the party was being re-engineered with a focus to do battle with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections by fielding candidates in all the elective positions.
He said: “Let me assure all of you here that in 2015 Labour Party will be the most credible, most acceptable and the most sought after party in Cross River State. Even if we may not succeed in chasing PDP away at the governorship level, they will not win all the seats in the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly as was the case in the past.”
The new chairman said the party was poised to embark on membership drive and registration exercise across the state and therefore charged party leaders, stakeholders and members to close ranks, preparatory to the 2015 elections.
Also speaking, the party’s 2011 governorship candidate in Cross River, Barrister Ima Nsa Adegoke, said LP was beginning the process of growth to retake its rightful position and assured that the party would not be a push over in 2015 elections.
A representative of the National Executive of the party, Comrade Tunde Ayelabola, who doubled as the returning officer in the congress, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election and charged the new executives to be exemplary in words and action to ensure the “party does well” in the state.
