Chijioke Edeoga, governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, for Enugu State in the 2023 elections, has criticized the apprehension of the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, noting that the action of the police was an abuse of his fundamental rights, and could be seen as an attempt to reduce the fortunes of the party in the forthcoming governorship contest in Edo State.
Edeoga condemned the public humiliation Abure was subjected to during the arrest, and demanded greater respect for the man, whom he said leads millions of LP members in the country.
He complained that the Edo State Police Command treated the LP leader like a robber, wondering why no invitation was extended to him before he was subjected to such public embarrassment.
“Without preconceptions of the police procedure and findings, these accusations smack of a conscious attempt to terrorize and reduce the person and office of the Labour Party Chairman before every right-thinking Nigerian.
“From every manifestation, and based on information at hand, Abure, a highly placed, law-abiding citizen and leader of millions of LP members spread all over Nigeria, was not issued any formal invitation by the Nigerian Police before the embarrassment and dehumanizing arrest. I note with profound displeasure, the attempt to treat the leader of the LP with such disdain by arresting and treating him like a common criminal. It has to be noted that Abure, like other party leaders participating in the upcoming governorship election in Edo State, had been in the state to prepare grounds for the primary elections to select the party’s governorship candidate for the elections,” Edeoga reiterated in a statement.
He equally criticized the alleged description of Abure as a factional chairman of the LP by the Edo State Police Command, and a section of the media, noting that by a judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abure had been affirmed as the undisputed National Chairman of the party.
