Edo 2024: Akpata Insists On Strong Candidate For Labour Party

Former President of Nigerian Bar Association and governorship aspirant of Labour Party (LP) in the 2024 Edo State governorship election, Olumide Osaigbovo Akpata, has said the party must field a strong candidate if it wants to win the election.
Akpata, who was a guest speaker at the 2023 Press Week of Edo State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said LP “must put forward a candidate that can match up to the opponents we know we will confront at the election.”
The former NBA president, who said he is the candidate that can deliver for the party, urged the party to give him the opportunity to fly its flag in the election because he is the only one who can match any opponent in the election.
Olumide said he had been going round the 18 local governments to canvass for delegates with the expectation that when the time comes they will make the right choice by voting him at the primary.
He said, “I have been canvasing our potential delegates; I have been speaking to persons who belong to a pool from which delegates will be elected. I have been speaking to them, and I hope that the message that I have been passing across will not fall to the bare ground. I have travelled the 18 local governments.
“If Labour Party is ever going to win the election in Edo State, they must put forward a candidate that can match up to the opponents we know we will confront at the election. Except the intention is not to win, if the intention is to win, it must be palm-for-palm. We cannot compare apples and oranges, you must compare apples and apples.”
Responding to allegation that he has been using his financial strength to push his way to get the party’s ticket by all means, the former NBA President said, “I have been a lawyer for 30 years, I have worked only as a lawyer, maybe a few businesses on the side that have come out of the fact that I am a lawyer. So, I think I have succeeded. I am the type who spends in what I believe in.
“It is when you spend your treasure in what you believe in, that is when you can be taken seriously. The funniest thing is that those who are calling me money bag have been spending lavishly even before I came into the scene.
“I just wondered what the issue really is. When people feel uncomfortable, and they see a competition that they cannot really match up to, they must look for a fault. It is a case of give a dog a bad name so you can hang him.”
Also commenting on the allegation that he is being sponsored by Governor Godwin Obaseki, Akpata said, “This is an unfounded rumour, it is baseless. My relationship with the governor for years has never been hidden.”