Why I dumped LP for APC – Anambra gov candidate
A former chieftain of the Labour Party, Valentine Ozigbo, has explained why he parted ways with the LP presidential flagbearer in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, and the party.
Ozigbo, who recently switched allegiance to the All Progressives Congress to chase his governorship ambition ahead of the November 8 poll in Anambra State last week, said no serious candidate would remain in the opposition party over its lingering leadership crisis.
The former Transcorp Plc boss disclosed this while answering questions from Sunday PUNCH after he submitted his expression of interest and nomination forms at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.
Although the APC aspirant, a one-time ally of Obi, claimed he had no personal grouse with the former Anambra governor, he explained that his decision to dump LP was driven by his belief in the need to align with forward-thinking and progressive leaders in the ruling party.
He said, “I have no problem with His Excellency, Peter Obi. He is doing his thing and I am doing mine. Unfortunately, social media can sometimes be a haven for a lot of fake news.
“I have tremendous respect for him. But there comes a time when you want to move on to your track, particularly when there is an urgency to deal with the issue of governance.
“Let me happily say to you that the only godfather I have is God in heaven. This whole engagement is about the welfare, security and safety of the Anambra people. That comes first before anything. What I have simply done is loyalty to the values I hold dear.”
Continuing, the Anambra governorship aspirant described his former party as a toxic party where no serious and ambitious should remain.
“Let me carefully make some clarifications here. Yes, some things happened in the Labour Party that I am not proud of. A lot of issues around the national chairman of the party. But this matter is still under litigation and creates uncertainty.
“I am also not proud of the performance of LP in a lot of elections that happened both at the governorship and local government levels. I am also not proud of the process of the LP national convention that happened in Anambra.
“If you are a serious candidate, you wouldn’t want to involve yourself. So, I asked myself which party I wanted regarding the Anambra governorship election. It is all about the Anambra people. The APC has shown seriousness, leadership, progressivism and dexterity,” he noted.
