Edo State Governorship aspirant from Labour Party, Dr. Olumide Akpata has made a press release about an allegation made against him yesterday by another aspirant, Barr. Ken Imasuagbon, the statement by Imasuagbon regarding the arrest of Labour Party's national chairman, Edo State chairman as well as other officials says Olumide Akpata has hands in it.
In a press release by Akpata to tackle this allegation , his statement reads below:
"I have been made aware of reckless and unfounded comments made by Mr. Kenneth
Imasuagbon in the press yesterday, February 21, 2024, where he accused me of being
behind the recent arrest and detention of Comrade Julius Abure, National Chairman of the Labour Party, Comrade Kelly Ogbaloi, Edo State Chairman of the Labour Party, and other party officials by the Nigeria Police Force.
"Let me categorically state that these allegations made by Mr. Imasuagbon, who claims to be a lawyer and should therefore know better, are completely false and, frankly, very irresponsible. I had absolutely no involvement whatsoever in the arrests he referred to. As we have been told by the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police Force Zone 5 Zonal Headquarters, the arrests stemmed from an entirely separate incident that occurred in Benin City on December 29, 2023, where one Comrade Anselm Eragbe, a former National Youth Leader of the Labour Party, was allegedly assaulted.
" Comrade Eragbe thereafter submitted a petition on the attack, accusing the arrested officials of orchestrating the incident. It was this petition that prompted a police investigation and subsequent arrests. I must make it clear that I have no connection at all to this unfortunate matter, beyond also being falsely accused on national television on December 29, 2023, of being responsible for the incident involving Comrade Eragbe. As someone falsely implicated in this matter, I have a strong interest in the outcome of the police investigation in order to clear my name fully. Given the timing of the arrests just 48 hours before the Labour Party primaries scheduled for February 23, 2024, the last possible day for political parties intending to f,ield candidates in the September 21, 2024, Edo State Gubernatorial elections to conduct primaries, it raises some very serious concerns. It is imperative that the party be able to conduct free, fair, and smooth primaries as planned on Friday, February 23, 2024.
"I strongly urge the party leadership to explore all lawful options as provided by the party's constitution to ensure the activities and operations of the Labour Party continue without obstruction. The party must urgently release the final delegate list from the ward congresses of Tuesday, February 20, 2024, which were monitored by INEC. It is worrying that we still do not have full delegate information more than 24 hours after the congress.
"I want to use this opportunity to caution Mr. Kenneth Imasuagbon to cease his campaign of falsehoods and calumny against me, which he renewed with vigour o"