2023: Leadership Crisis Hits Labour Party in Bauchi

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Bauchi chapter of the Labour Party is currently enmeshed in a leadership crisis as the head of media for the ObiDatti Movement and the party’s publicity secretary of the party, Mr Benjamin Edeh kicked against his removal.

He reportedly removed by the party chairman in Bauchi, Barrister Husseini Saraki, alleging that he has a hidden agenda.

THISDAY checks revealed that the leadership crisis might impact negatively on the planned rally in Bauchi for the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday, Edeh said he remains the authentic spokesman for the party, declaring that the Saraki has no constitutional power to remove him from office.

“I have been relieved of my position as state publicity secretary. He does not have the power to remove me at all,” said Edeh. “I don’t really know what is going on and I want the chairman to come and tell the whole world and the Obidatti Movement what is his hidden agenda and why he removed me.”

The embattled Labour Party spokesman in Bauchi added that the crisis “is coming few days to the coming of Mr Peter Obi and the general election.”

Everybody in Bauchi knows that I am among the few that have been labouring for this Movement in Bauchi and the chairman is now coming to distance me away from the Movement is what I don’t know”

He called on Obi to address the matter immediately before his rally in the state.

“There is something fishy on the ground. We toiled and brought the party to where it is today. There was no labour party in Bauchi until I came on board and together, we successfully organised the one-million-man match,” stated Edeh. “Nobody gave me a dime. Now Saraki wants to tactically remove me from the system because as the mouth- piece of the Obi Movement in Bauchi, if Saraki succeeds in removing me from that position, then nobody will be bold enough to speak out.”

Reacting to the allegations, Saraki claimed Edeh was at no time the party’s spokesman.

“He claims to be working in Nollywood and came with gadgets and I saw his capacity hence I decided to link him with our zonal chairman Pastor Joshua Sunday. He was not given a letter of appointment but was engaged on a provisional basis as zonal publicity secretary,” stated Saraki. “There were lots of complaints against his appointment but I ignored them and insisted that we need people with his kind of capacity.”

Saraki further claimed that Edeh disrespected the zonal vice-chairman of the Labour Party in the state by refusing to take directives from the leadership.

“The zonal vice-chairman called Edeh who refused to pick the calls and later reasoned that he was avoiding the zonal vice-chairman who gave him my directive to respond to the issue of Obi and Atiku posters as emergency,” explained the Bauchi chair. “He refused to act on it, I then directed the state publicity Secretary to do it.”