The National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Barrister Julius Abure, has approved the appointment of celebrated actress and grassroots political mobiliser, Hilda Dokubo, as the Chairman of a three-member Steering Committee for the Rivers state chapter of the Party.
Other members of the Committee, according to a letter signed by Abure and addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), dated March 9, 2023, are Pastor Philip Nyechi Loveday (Secretary) and Mr. Gogo Wellington (Publicity Secretary).
The letter, titled “Appointment of Steering Committee in Rivers State,” said that the appointment follows “the tenure expiration and dissolution of the Caretaker Committee led by Dienye Pepple.”
Noting that the appointment of the Dokubo-led Committee is for one month, the letter to the INEC Chairman stressed that “Consequently, this letter supersedes any other letter relating or connected thereto.”
There had been some disquiet in the state chapter of the party, especially with the declaration by Pepple that the LP in the state had decided to support the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sim Fubara.
Pepple’s colleagues in the now dissolved executive have risen in unison to denounce his declaration and distance themselves from his position, alleging that he had been compromised by the State governor, Nyesom Wike into adopting the unpopular position.
They insist that Comrade Beatrice Itubo remains the Governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Rivers State and that she is sure to win the elections and emerge the first female Governor in the country, especially given the challenges being faced by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, as well as the issues surrounding the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The state Governor, Nyesom Wike backed the APC candidate in the presidential election, Bola Tinubu while the former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, who is the defacto leader of the APC in the state is said to have supported Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
The confusion these scenarios are throwing up are expected to work in favour of the Labour Party, especially also given the alleged contributions of Wike to what is generally seen as the electoral fiasco in the state on February 25, 2023.
Dokubo and her team have thus been handed the mantle to steer the party to success in the March 18, 2023, Governorship and State Assembly elections and confirm what LP supporters are insisting on, that the party won the Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state on February 25, 2023.
In a tweet on her verified handle, @dokubohilda, Dokubo said “The reward for hard work is more work. #Obidattis let us #OBIdiently do this. This is serious! Every #Ellupee voter inside Rivers state it is time to push all the distractions away and stay focused. We are unstoppable, unbreakable and undistractable.”
