6th September, 2014
Orusi Kenneth
As far as Labour Party, an the opposition is concerned in Delta State, the only thing worth celebrating in the oil rich state of the Niger-Delta area of Nigeria as it clocks 23 is the fact that the state exists.
The party believes there is nothing on ground in the form of development that the state should be proud of.
It also said whatever the state government was showcasing as positive stride is only aimed at covering the failure of the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan-led administration.
Speaking on behalf of the party, Chief Tony Ezeagwu, chairman of the Labour Party in the state said: “the only thing to rejoice about is that we have a state…I think the state is very backward.
“If you look at the development around the state today, you will see that nothing is going on as far as we are concerned. Every other thing you see is just photo trick, no serious business is going on in the state. Today, if it rains, you do not have any place to put your legs?”
He said the roads being tarred by the current administration have become drainages as water now flows on them whenever it rains.
“I had the opportunity to drive round the town about three days ago, what I saw was an eyesore. Go to Okpanam Road; if the state capital is like this, what do you think of other places?” he asked.
He said the state would have become an adult after existing for 23 years, but that in the current situation, the state was still like a toddler.
Ezeagwu described the maternal health care and free under-five healthcare programmes of the state government, as cosmetic.
“Do old men and women get pregnant? When you talk of maternal healthcare, how many of these people actually have access to the hospitals?” He asked.
He said further: “there are still places in the state that you go; it would take you about 20 kilometres before getting to the hospital. Go to places like Aboh, Burutu and other rural areas and you will find that there are no hospital for healthcare delivery.”
Ezeagwu said residents of the state were yet to get their right dues from the country’s democracy as they had been shortchanged over time.
He further castigated the state government for allegedly wanting to tax landlords and private bore-hole owners in the state while lamenting that there are no public taps across the state and that with N100,000 one could sink a clean and befitting bore-hole.
According to him, it would be a shame for the government to tax people for providing their own water when it is the duty of the state to provide the basic amenity.
Concerning his party’s congress, the Labour Party chairman said: “the postponement of the congress was because of a little misunderstanding and because we are purely democratic, we want things done they way they are supposed to be done.
“We must conduct our congress, we don’t want to have factions in our party, everybody must be carried along.”
He denied the opinion held by some people that the Labour Party is an arm of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, adding that despite the alleged planned defection of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State from the Labour party to the PDP, the former remained strong especially in Delta State.
“The question of LP been an arm of PDP does not arise. It is an independent political party registered by INEC, has its own structure, its own organogram and will be ready to work with any political party that has the same ideology and same belief with it,” he said.