Edo Labour Party in crisis: Acting committee chairman suspended for insubordination

Edo Labour Party in crisis: Acting committee chairman suspended for insubordination

BY IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY

A few weeks after an interim committee was sworn in by the national leadership of the Labour Party (LP) to take over the affairs of the party in Edo State, the incumbent committee chairman, Honourable Elizabeth Ativie, has been suspended for alleged gross misconduct and insubordination.

The decision was taken at an expanded meeting of the State Working Committee (SWC) 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 chairperson of the LP in the state.

The chairman of the LP in Uhunmwonde LGA of Ativie, Mr Aghedo Okhiongbamwonyi, said the leadership of their fourth district had issued the suspension.

Okhiongbamwonyi presented a letter dated 4 May 2024 informing the LP leadership in the LGA of the suspension of the controversial Ativie.

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.

In addition, a letter dated May 30, 2024, confirming their suspension by the local government was presented to the expanded session of the SWC.

Her alleged suspension may also be linked to the confusion that arose at a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), where both Ativie and Kelly Ogbaloi claimed to be chairmen of the Edo Labour Party.

However, in a quick response, Ativie said she remained the official state chairman of the Edo Labour Party and that she was not aware of any meeting in which she had been suspended.

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

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