Crisis rock Labour Party in Bauchi ahead Peter Obi’s visit

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By Ude Ogbonnaya Israel, Bauchi

Ahead of Peter Obi, Labour Party’s presidential standard bearer’s campaign to Bauchi, internal wrangling has rocked the party’s leadership in the state.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, Edeh Benjamin, the Publicity Secretary who also said he is the Head of media for Obidient movement in Bauchi State, accused the state Chairman Barrister Useni Saraki of relieving him of his office.

According to him, the state party chairman should “tell Nigerians and Obedient community what is his hidden agenda,

“I called the chairman and he told me that I am now the Zonal publicity Secretary of Bauchi South and they have inaugurated a new Publicity Secretary for the state.

“Few days to Peter Obi’s coming and general elections, which everybody knows that we have been labouring and toiling for this movement in Bauchi, so why will they remove me like that”, he queried.

He raised fear that the single act has the tendency to affect the prospect of the party particularly in the state because, “Already, someone that have been playing the ball, and a new person come up; you don’t know the tactics on board, you don’t know how to move, then you will just keep the army in disarray; that is what I feel is going to happen”, he said.

“I am calling on presidential candidate to come into the matter because, before they can come into Bauchi to do anything, this must be resolved”, the aggrieved Edeh added.

Reacting to the allegation via phone call, the chairman of the party in the state Barrister Useni Saraki submitted that Edeh Benjamin did not follow his instruction to do a video to counter a message purporting confusion in the party.

“No father will want his son to go away from him. I am the father of Labour Party in Bauchi State and they are all under me. I have given instruction and directive that he should come and do this video so that we will correct a narrative about the poster showing Atiku and our candidate.

“He did not do it and we have a state Publicity Secretary that is availble and that is why we used him for that purpose because if we had not responded, it would have created a lot of confusion”, he said.

Regarding the newly inaugurated Publicity Secretary, “Benjamin has never been the state Publicity Secretary and nobody has taken his position as Zonal publicity Secretary”, the party Chairman of the state added.