By Cross Udo
The Labour Party (LP) has condemned what it described as a cowardly attempt to scare the members of the party in Enugu State during its meeting.
The party said no cartilage of bullets and cache of bombs could silence a people’s agenda and resolve which time has come.
The LP also said that the people of Enugu have made up their minds to vote massively for the party in the 2023 general election and no amount of subterfuge and intimidation can stop the moving train.
The reaction came on the heels of the reported attack the party suffered while holding its meeting in the state on Sunday.
No fewer than four gunmen had on Sunday attacked members of the party who were holding a meeting in Awgu community, in the Awgu local government area.
A statement by the LP candidate for Enugu West Senatorial District, Uchenna Ekwe, stated that the September 4 attack “would go down in the political history of Enugu as the day that reactionary politics coronate itself with the sullied robe of cowardice and violence.”
Continuing, the labour leader said, “The notorious coronation played out in Agwu Ward 1, Agwu local government and a week earlier at Aninri local government as suspected Peoples Democratic Party thugs attacked the monthly meetings of the Labour Party in the two local governments, and wounding LP members and vandalising personal property.
“It is unfortunate that while the rest of the country is beginning to make a fast break from the politics of bullets, bombs, biceps, and triceps, certain interests in the ruling political establishment in Enugu State are bent on testing the resolve of the people.
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“In viral videos that captured those moments of demonic gyrations, the demented attackers were heard boasting that no political parties would be allowed to operate in Biafra. This is an attempt to ride on a false flag as no other political party meetings were attacked or threatened apart from those of LP.
“This attack establishes three things for us. First, the fear of the effervescent popularity of the LP is now the beginning of panic for members of the ruling political class in Enugu State as they are already feeling the irrepressible resolve by Ndi Enugu that the wind of transformational leadership sweeping across the length and breadth of Nigeria must not leave Enugu State behind.
“This huge renewal of faith in transformational governance among Nigerians and Ndi Enugu is on the wings of the general acceptance of the servant-leadership appeal of Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of LP and Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, the governorship candidate of the LP in Enugu State.
“Second, the recent reactionary and barbaric attack on the meetings of the Labour Party in Enugu State and the futile attempt to hide it under the Biafran agitation betrays the source of the violence in different parts of the Southeast as being politically motivated.
“It is unfortunate and tragic that politicians have hijacked the Biafran agitation as cannon fodder for political violence and criminality. While it is understandable for a party that has lost relevance and touch with the people to panic at the sight of a sweeping defeat, it is unacceptable for such a sinking ship to resort to violence and mayhem against the people who have simply had enough of their streak of bad governance mixed with arrogance and impunity.
“The cowardly attempt to scare the members of the Labour Party in Enugu State shows that the sponsors of the recent attacks are already at their wit’s end and frustrated. The truth is that no cartilage of bullets and cache of bombs can silence a people’s agenda and resolve which time has come.
“The people of Enugu State have since made up their minds to vote massively for the Labour Party in the 2023 general election and no amount of subterfuge and intimidation can stop this moving train.”
*IPOB denies violent attacks on Obi supporters in ‘coal city
Meanwhile, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB) has said its members were not involved in Sunday’s attack at the LP campaign ground in Enugu.
In a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, IPoB said it had no hands in the criminal activity, reiterating that its members have remained peaceful and focused on how to secure the referendum date.
IPoB warned that those hired for such ‘impersonation and demonisation’ would soon incur the wrath of its volunteers and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) operatives.
The statement reads in part, “We condemn those who used the IPOB and Biafra insignias in what we knew as a state-sponsored attack on the Labour Party campaign ground in Enugu State to blackmail IPoB.
“IPoB, under the command and leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, never instructed anyone to threaten or attack election campaign ground. If IPoB wishes to do so, we will make it open, and the Nigerian government and its security agencies will hear the sound.”
