Labour Party suspends state chairman and secretary in Cross River

The Labour Party (LP), Cross River State chapter, has suspended its chairman, Mr. Ogar Osim, over alleged embezzlement, misconduct and anti-party activities.

Ogar, who was suspended on Tuesday evening along with Secretary of State Felix Etim, was also accused of inability to maintain the Secretariat of State and various other problems.

This was contained in a press release signed by the Chairperson and Secretary of the State Disciplinary Committee, Bonnie Adie and Ibiang Igri respectively.

According to the statement, Eugene Obia was appointed as acting chairman and Allen Ekpe as acting secretary, and they will remain in that capacity until a congress is held to elect a chairman and secretary respectively.

The statement said: “The decision to remove them from their positions was taken after a thorough investigation into allegations of gross misconduct, anti-party activities, inability to maintain a state secretariat, embezzlement and other serious cases.”

“We are confident that the interim appointees Mr. Obia and Mr. Ekpe will provide strong leadership and ensure the smooth running of the Labour Party in the state.

“We call on all members to cooperate with the new leadership and work together to achieve the party’s goals.”

Reacting to the alleged suspension, Osim said that the people claiming to be members of the party’s disciplinary committee were not members of the party and described them as imposters.

He threatened to sue the committee, adding: “The signatories of the alleged suspension letter are not even known to the Labour Party.”

He said: “In fact, we are taking them to court because they are faceless. At the state level, such a committee, even if it exists, can only make recommendations; it has no power of suspension.”

“They are impostors and I will describe them as strange elements because their names do not appear in any of our registers, from the municipal level to the chapter and state, we do not know them.

“If there was such a thing as a disciplinary committee, as they claimed, their letter should have been signed by legal counsel.”