Edo LP suspends interim committee chairman for insubordination

The crisis rocking the Edo State Labour party has taken on a new dimension with the suspension of the interim committee chairperson, Elizabeth Ativie, for alleged gross misconduct and insubordination.

The decision was taken on Saturday evening at an expanded meeting of the state working committee, which was also attended by chairmen of local governments and party secretaries.

This development came less than a week after she was sworn in by the national party leadership as acting chairman of the LP in the state following the dissolution of the state executive committee under Kelly Ogbaloi.

At the meeting, Ativie Local Government Party Chairman Uhunmwonde Aghedo Okhiongbamwonyi said the suspension was issued by the leadership of Ativie District 4.

He then presented a letter dated May 4 to the LP leadership in the local government announcing Ativie’s suspension.

The letter was signed by Charles Usiesefe and Mike Ighile, the District Chairman and the District Secretary respectively.

In the letter, the party leadership asked them to exercise restraint and not to pretend or show off as members of the LP.

The expanded SWC session was also presented with a letter dated 30 May confirming their suspension by the local government.

In her response, Ativie said that she remained the official national chairperson of the party and that she was not aware of any meeting in which she had been suspended.

She said: “You should know that under the Labour Party constitution, no district or local authority leader has the power to suspend anyone or the leader.”

“It is doomed from the start, I am the current state chairman of the Labour Party in Edo State.”

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