Bashorun Dele Momodu, Nigeria’s presidential aspirant under the banner of Labour Party has resigned with immediate effect from the political party. Momodu, who is also the publisher of Ovation International magazine said he resigned because of the party Chairman,Barrister Dan Nwayanwu lackadaisical attitude towards his political ambition.
Here is a complete text of what transpired. The resignation letter and the interview the labour party granted.
LETTER OF RESIGNATION FROM LABOUR PARTY
Today, Tuesday 14th December, 2010, Bashorun Dele Momodu resigned his membership of the Labour Party (LP). Until now he was the most prominent presidential aspirant on the platform of The Labour Party (LP). The attached materials contain all relevant details about the circumstances and reasons that informed his decision to leave the party.
The Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation will announce his next moves shortly.
Ohimai Godwin AmaizeNational Coordinator Dele Momodu Presidential Campaign Organisation
14th December, 2010
Barr. Dan NwayanwuNational Chairman,Labour Party of Nigeria,Abuja.
Dear Sir,
RESIGNATION FROM MEMBERSHIP OF THE LABOUR PARTY (LP)
I write to notify your good self and office of my resignation from the membership of The Labour Party (LP).
You will recall that on 20th November, 2010 I wrote to you drawing your attention to my observations about indications that The Labour Party (LP) had no plans to field a presidential candidate for the 2011 presidential election.
For the records, below is the text copy of that letter:
My dear Chairman,
How are you and your family Sir?
As a true Christian, I must bring to your attention some of my worries about your supposed attitude to my participation in the Presidential race on the platform of our great party, The Labour Party.
I’m very alarmed at some of the comments being credited to you by most of our mutual friends. It has become fashionable by many people to stop or call me to ask “what’s going on between you and Dan, the Chairman of your party?” And whenever I asked why the question the answer was often that “DAN BELIEVES YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS, THAT YOU ONLY EXIST ON THE INTERNET, THAT YOU HAVE NO MONEY TO RUN A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN…”
The most cynical of the commentators was a man, UCHE ONYEAGUCHA, who I did not know before but accosted me at the Bukka Restaurant of Transcorp Hilton hotel a few weeks back, and shouted publicly that “Dele, sorry o, Dan has sold your ticket in Labour”. I just managed the situation by laughing at him as a joker, otherwise he would have attracted a crowd to us.
Let me emphasise the fact that I have confidence in your leadership. The journey we’ve embarked upon is very daunting but divine. As difficult as it may seem, many Nigerians are looking up to our party to make the difference and deliver that change we’ve all been craving.
My strategy has been to use unconventional methods to reach our destination. If this is why you think I’m unserious, I plead with you to have faith that miracles do happen. Most of our potential donors have been worried that they are not sure that Labour Party would not sell out to the highest bidder. They claim that your body-language and an earlier interview granted by Dr. Akinlaja have not helped matters.
The party you lead today is generally seen as the hope of the common man but we have the onerous task of working tirelessly to convince members of the public that we are ready to make the necessary sacrifice for that much-awaited change.
Sir, it is too early in the day to write any candidate off. With limited resources, I have taken on political Goliaths. I have attracted considerable attention to our party. Everyone now agrees I’m one of the brightest hopes for Nigeria. In the name of God, I deserve to be encouraged.
Everywhere I go, I promote the best tenets of Labour Party, even at international fora. I have been speaking about how you have struggled to build the party with your sweat and blood. My coming to Labour was not by accident. I came to you because I was reasonably convinced that together we can show the world that Nigeria was not a colony of monkeys and that we have what it takes to move our great nation to the next level.
I will be delighted to meet with you between Wednesday and Thursday next week to give details of why I’m raising these concerns.
Thanks and God bless you.Dele Momodu
Till this very day, I am yet to receive any written or verbal acknowledgment to the above letter from your good self as my party chairman. However, in an interview published in The Sunday Independent of 4th December 2010, titled “Mimiko under pressure to dump Labour Party – Nwanyanwu”, you were quoted as saying: “My mandate is not to get a president this time around…”
Below is the text of the interview culled from The Sunday Independent of 4th December, 2010:
Mimiko under pressure to dump Labour Party – Nwanyanwu
By Obiora Ifoh, Assistant Editor, Abuja
Governor Olusegun Mimiko is under intense pressure to dump the Labour Party (LP) which brought him to Ondo Government House, the party’s National Chairman, Dan Nwanyanwu confirmed at the weekend, corroborating reports that Mimiko may soon dump the party.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) hawks are reportedly asking Mimiko to quit the LP as part of the accord he struck with them in exchange for the support they gave him in the thick of the legal battle against the peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Olusegun Agagu who the electoral commission fraudulently declared winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship poll.
Nwanyanwu told Sunday Independent in an exclusive interview in Abuja that there have indeed been several overtures for Mimiko to dump the party, but the LP boss stopped short of naming the ACN or any of its chieftains in the defection plan.
“I will not deny that there has not been pressure from different quarters to take the only governor we have out of our party. In fact, the pressure started immediately he was sworn-in in 2009 and it has to do with the character of the person,” Nwanyanwu said.
“Initially, it was the PDP who felt that he should come back to the fold. I am not aware of this one you are talking about ACN, but I am talking generally that the categories of lobbying can never be closed. I cannot say that even other parties, even the CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) may go and lobby for him to leave, but I can only tell you that dumping a political party that gave you the vehicle to victory has to do with the character of the individual. Most people who have done it and are still in this country lack character, they lack honour, integrity.
“Governor Mimiko is a man of strong character, and as at now, I can tell you categorically that those who are pushing him to change party are merely wasting their time. It will not work.”
Nwanyanwu also foreclosed the possibility of the LP fielding a presidential candidate in the next election, a faux pas likely to draw heated criticism from those wanting to contest for president on the platform of the party, including Ovation publisher, Dele Momodu.Nwanyanwu insisted that presidential contest is not for lightweight politicians or up-coming political parties without heavy financial war chest. The LP knows its limitations, capabilities and capacities, according to Nwanyanwu.
His words: “My mandate is not to get a president this time around, but this is not to say that if I find the opportunity I will not grab it with two hands. We are working hard, we want to improve on what we got in 2007 and I am very confident that based on this one man, one vote that is on the lips of every body, Labour Party will have a good outing in the next year’s general election.
“When I say it is not in our mandate to contest for presidential election, it is because of our peculiar handicap. And I also said that that does not mean that if we have the opportunity, we will not grab it with two hands. If that opportunity comes, we will field a presidential candidate, we will participate in the election and I can assure you that we will win.
“But if the Labour Party presents a presidential candidate, it means we have cross-checked all the indices and we are now in a better position to run for that office. It is not something that if you don’t have money, you will say that you want to run for the president. Even for you to have one observer in all the polling booths in Nigeria which is 120,000; if you are paying them N2000, that alone is N240, 000,000.
“So running for presidential election is not for small boys. Anybody can say what he likes but you cannot make omelet without breaking an egg. That is the true situation. You have to have rallies, you have to buy buses, motorcycles and in some cases, you have to rent boats – all these things cost money. So if you don’t have it don’t waste your time, wait until you have it.
“And if you don’t have sponsors that will have confidence in you genuinely, don’t waste your time. That is the import of my statement, not as a political party we are not keen in producing a president. This is because this is a party for the masses, but I have told you, we don’t have the resources, the huge resources, needed to go for presidential election.”
In the light of the above, it is clear that The Labour Party (LP) has gone the direction of some other parties in Nigeria whose only mission is to sell their parties to the highest bidder. It is unfortunate that at this auspicious time in the history of our nation when the people of Nigeria are desirous of change, The Labour Party (LP), hitherto regarded as one of the last hopes of the common man has joined the bandwagon of political wheeler dealers void of conscience and lacking in the principles of honour and integrity.
And for the records, I have attached along with this letter, a series of documents which negate several assertions credited to you that my campaign exists only on the Internet.
Since the Labour Party (LP) has decided, in the wisdom of its leadership, to remain in the stagnant waters of primitive party politics, I have resolved to move on by resigning my membership of the party with immediate effect. I consider all the resources and efforts both financial and material that I contributed to the development of the party during the period of my membership as a sacrifice towards strengthening the democratic process in my fatherland.
It is my hope that sometime in the near future, a new set of credible leaders will emerge within the rank and file of the Labour Party (LP) to help restore the party to its rightful place within the polity.
I wish you and your executive team all the best for the future.
Dele Momodu
