* Onojah charges Parties to pay signage fees and stop name calling
ATABOR JULIUS LOKOJA.
No fewer than two thousand stalwarts and members of the Labour Party LP have renounced their membership and joined the ruling All Progression Congress APC in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi state.
The Coordinator for Labour Party decampees, Hon . David Apeh made the disclosure over the weekend at a ceremony held at Okpo , headquarters of Olamaboro Local Government Council of the state to receive the defectors.
The Coordinator who stated that he was a pioneer member of the party in Olamaboro and has worked hard to create a niche for it , said , it has become imperative for him and his numerous supporters to join the APC which has done so much for the people.
He said based on the giant strides of the APC and the personal contribution of the Deputy Governor, David Onoja, who is the son of the soil , he has to have a rethink and move to APC to join him consolidate on the success so far recorded.
He added that he has to become disobidient because of the interest of his fatherland which is far above his own, stressing that the APC is the only party that has given them Deputy Governor position , hence, he has no moral justification to continue to fight the establishment.
Apeh disclosed that all his members and stakeholders of the Labour party that have renounced their membership today have valid membership cards which can be verified as they cut across the ten wards of the LGA.
He called on all sons and daughters who are still in the opposition parties to have a change of heart and join APC which meant so much in terms of the development strides unleashed in the nooks and crannies of Olamaboro .
He hinted that with the decamping ceremony held today, the Labour Party has officially ceased to exist in the entire fabrics of the LGA.
While receiving the defectors, the state Deputy Governor, Chief Edward Onoja commended the coordinator, David Apeh to have heeded to the voice of reasoning and moved his supporters to the ruling APC.
The Deputy Governor disclosed that the APC which was the amalgam of CPC , ACN , ANPP worked tirelessly to defeat PDP in 2015 and repeat the same in 2019 and he is confident that 2O23 will go the same way for the social economic and infrastructure development across the council.
He assured the people that with the increase in the number of registered voters, the LGA is up to double its winning streak, insisted that APC had not lost election since its debut in 2015 in the state.
While reeling projects done across the Olamaboro Local Government Area, which include the construction of Ibana -Okpo- Ogugu asphalt overlay, attraction of Federal Government Science and Technical College , sinking of boreholes, building of churches and mosques for spiritual edification of the people, appointment of their son as deputy governor, and other persons to strategic positions in the state, urge sons and daughters to join the party for more development projects.
On the issues of allegations directed at him that he was responsible for tearing of posters and billboards by House of Representatives candidate of Labour Party, Chief Peter Ameh, he said, the candidate is a law breaker and should be treated as such.
He hinted that the state has passed a signage law through the Kogi state Internal Revenue Service KGIRS, which has stipulated amount to be paid by candidates of all the political parties before it can mount billboards, posters of any form across the state.
He disclosed that as sitting Deputy Governor, he paid huge amount of money to advertising agencies for him to paste posters and mount billboards when his principal, Governor Yahaya Bello was contesting for presidential ticket of the APC.
He Said his name has become a brand that if not added to story a by his detractors, their stories would not sell, saying if Ameh is a man of integrity that would want the people to vote for him, he should obey the simple law of the land and pay the fee prescribed by the state.
He warned the labour party and other parties to pay the prescribed fees which is thirty seven million and five hundred thousand for candidates of a political party and stop calling on his name or the state for their inability to meet up their obligations
He decried the purported popularity of the Labour party as a social media creation which has no concrete impact on the voting patterns of the people.
He charged stakeholders on Olamaboro projects to look critically at what the APC has done for the LGA vis a vis the parties before her and have a change of heart to join the moving train and vote for all the candidates of the APC in the forthcoming general elections.
Meanwhile, those who graced the occasion include, the incumbent House of Representatives member for Olamaboro/ Omala /Ankpa federal Constituency, Hon. Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims, Commissioner for commerce and industry, Hon Gabriel Olofu, member, House of Assembly member, Anthony Ujah Alewo and a host of other sons and daughters of the LGA.