The Dissolution Of The Kelly Ogbaloi SWC Of The Edo State Labour Party: When The Chicken Comes Home To Roost
By Comr. Okhilua Osadebamen ‘Spartacus’
Although I was kept in the know, I never expected it would happen so soon. Olumide Akpata the discredited LP Governorship Candidate aided by the money hungry leaders of the Edo State LP, had set the stage for what was to befall the party on Thursday, 9th of December, 2023, wherein in an attempt to halt the slide which the party was descending to, Comr. Ken Omusi the State Youth Leader led hundreds of members of the party to take over the state secretariat, dissolving the entire corrupt and inept State Working Committee led by Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi and therein after setting up a triumvirate caretaker leadership headed by himself.
The take over which was synonymous to a palace coup, aside the fact that it was celebrated by well meaning members of the party who felt the party has been hijacked and derailed by money bag politicians, saw the new Acting State Chairman, Ken Omusi reeling out before members of the press and party members, the anti-democratic practices of the ousted SWC. Practices which bothers on:
1. the draconian and tyrannical leadership style of Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi and co.;
2. the high handedness of Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi for unilaterally suspending members without recourse to the party’s Constitution which provides for a fair trial and fair hearing;
3. the illegal suspension of 350 members in the last 3months through WhatsApp platforms;
4. lack of efforts to resolve differences within the party;
5. corruption and vote buying by Olumide Akpata wherein the party’s primary was dollarized;
6. the promotion of tribal hatred for the Esan people by Olumide Akpata wherein the principles of justice, equity and fairness for which the LP was known for, was torn into shreds on the altar of mammon;
7. the erosion of the principles of “we no dey give shishi”, as espoused by Peter Obi by the leaders of the party who traded the party’s gubernatorial ticket to the highest bidder.
The speech which was revolutionary, reminded me of that which was delivered by the leader of the January 15, 1966 coup, Maj. Kaduna Nzeogwu.
As much as biased critics within the camp of Olumide Akpata and Kelly Ogbaloi might want to arrogate to themselves the status of judges in their own case against Comr. Ken Omusi, by condemning the action taken by the latter, no objective and fair minded person who is conversant with the many ills besetting the LP which has rendered it ineffective as a viable opposition party, will find fault with the litany of problems raised by the erstwhile Youth Leader.
The problems afflicting the Labour Party which has made the party to become a laughing stock, earning the appellation of being described as a drama party, we saw it coming long time ago. We issued warnings as to the repercussions that will befall the party if it’s leadership refuse to heed the admonition to toe the path of constitutionality and moral rectitude, in managing the affairs of the party, but for the greed for money by these leaders and the personality cult they built around themselves “Kelly Ogbaloi is always right”, they refused to take heed and now the chicken has come home to roost as the Lords of the Manor who feel their words are superior to the letters and spirit of the constitution are now being served the very dishes they served others in the past.
It is in the holy write as espoused by our Lord Jesus Christ, “with the same measure you measure unto others, same shall also be measured unto you”, thus Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi and his paymaster, Olumide Akpata lacked the moral template to insist that the actions of Comr. Ken Omusi are illegal when they themselves have not acted in accordance with the provisions of the party’s Constitution moreso when the acts of illegality which is reigning supreme in the party today, was entrenched by the leadership of the party in the first place. Your’s truly, Spartacus is a victim of the illegal act of having his suspension without a fair trial, being announced on WhatsApp platform by those who believe the party is an extension of their personalities. Time shall tell whether if these illegal acts and many other sundry acts that have undermined the LP will stand but I know that though the mill of God is slow to grind, it shall surely grind to dust the real enemies of the party which Kelly Ogbaloi and Olumide Akpata has come to represent.
Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi and Olumide Akpata can organize all the press conferences they can, it still does not remove the fact that the Labour Party is in dire need of exorcism or deliverance. The issues raised by Ken Omusi cannot be wished away by a party that is serious in winning election, they will keep coming moreso when it portends a grave danger when the members of the party are decamping either to the APC or the PDP. It becomes more dangerous when the party has among it’s fold, the ‘silent dissenters’ who are waiting for election day to undertake the final burial of the LP in Edo State.
Suspending Ken Omusi the man who was the brain behind the successful October 1st 2022 rally for Peter Obi in Edo State, can never crush the truth for truth crushed to earth shall surely rise again. Declaring his actions illegal can never confer legitimacy on Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi and Olumide Akpata who are currently struggling hard to protect their office and candidacy respectively. As I am writing, the rank and file of the LP, Edo State is depleting daily and Mr. Olumide Akpata in his arrogance and buffoonery, has refused to wake up from his self inflicted reverie to this fact.
Postscript:
1. If Messrs. Kelly Ogbaloi and Olumide Akpata have nothing to hide, why use a press conference to announce the suspension of Comr. Ken Omusi? Why not subject him to a trial before an independent and biased disciplinary panel?
2. Is the Management of the University of Benin aware that Professor Ekhaise who was appointed to chair the panel to investigate the disturbance generated by Olumide Akpata’s entry into the campus, is a card carrying member of the LP? I have the evidence couple with the fact that his wife, Dr. Roselyn Ekhaise who is also a card carrying member of the party, is the Chairman of the Reposition Support Group (RSG), a coalition of Support Groups operating under the Labour Party.
Was the University Authority expecting the Professor to present an unbiased report? Whose report are we to believe, that of a tainted member of the LP or that produced by an independent panel of enquiry?
I learnt that members of the dissolved SUG, have come out openly to apologize to Olumide Akpata inspite of the initial act of defiance they had put up. Were they compelled to do so, with the threat to rusticate them? Did money change hands given the fact that the sainted Candidate is a bribe giver who uses money to buy his way out of any situation? He is indeed lucky that we are no longer in the era where we had a vibrant unionism for he would have long been declared as public enemy 1.
3. Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi is a man whose appearance and utterances disguises his true nature. For the undiscerning, you are easily carried away by his rhetorics and claim of being a product of the struggle. Under his watch and supervision, the secretariat of the LP Edo State has become a cesspool of corruption where party leaders are ‘settled’, by those vying for political office. He claims to be clean but in truth, he is dirty. He claims to be a Comrade, but in truth he is a reactionary element who will rather prefer to dine with those who seek to oppress the people. He claims he has his own private business, he hasn’t taken a dime from any politician but in truth members of his dissolved SWC save for Mrs. Isoken Tongo, the Deputy Chairman, were being sorted and settled.
In the past, I defended this man, I still recall defending him when Mr. Paul Okungbowa a Governorship Aspirant who is presently the Governorship Candidate of the YPP had accused him and his co-travellers of being sorted out to conduct a primary whose outcome was already predetermined. I do owe Mr. Paul Okungbowa aka Gorilla Brain an apology.
Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi was in the know of the plans by Olumide Akpata to arrest and detain the embattled National Chairman of the LP, Barr. Julius Abure. He was part of the conspirators given the fact that he was only arrested alongside the National Chairman and Comr. Ken Omusi to disguise his involvement. Funny enough the same Akpata who ordered the arrest which was led by his younger brother, who denied not having the knowledge of the arrest, was the one who bailed Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi. He is the one who put forward the name of his relation, Ms. Yinka to deputize for Mr. Akpata, a woman with conflicting credentials.
Mr. Kelly Ogbaloi loves the power that comes with his office so much that he will do everything to hang unto power, that is why he allowed himself to be used by Akpata to humiliate his boss. He is a man who have no value for loyalty, sacrificing the loyalty of his subordinates on the altar of political self aggrandizement. He has since lost his voice and moral authority in the presence of Akpata who currently is his benefactor with the promise to make him an SSG if the former wins. A pipe dream.
With Messrs. Kelly Ogbaloi and Julius Abure, I have learnt not to defend any leader of the LP given that what they do is different from what they preach.
4. Keen political observers should expect more drama from the LP in the incoming days for as someone once told me “the Labour Party right from it’s founding have never been a settled party.”
Signed:
Comr. Okhilua Osadebamen ‘Spartacus’
WhatsApp Suspended Member,
Labour Party,
Edo State.
Convener,
Edo Democratic Patriots (EDP)
08063361789
08114680812
