Abia State, Nigeria – The Labour Party’s State Working Committee has addressed reports of Ceekay Igara’s arrest, revealing that Igara’s actions prompted their petition to the police.
According to the committee, Igara’s arrest stems from extortion and impersonation allegations. Igara, the South East Vice Chairman, had allegedly usurped the office of the State Chairman despite ceasing to hold the position.
The party emphasized that Igara’s actions contravened their constitution and ignored court orders. They stressed their commitment to upholding the law.
Signed by Hon. Emmanuel Nweze Oti, Acting State Chairman, the statement urged the public to disregard emotional blackmail attempts.
The statement reads in part:
“The attention of the State Working Committee of the Labour Party in Abia State has been drawn to the report of the arrest of the South East Vice Chairman of our Party, Mr. Ceekay Igara by some security agents and wish to state as follows:
“1. That Mr. Igara’s arrest stems from a petition we wrote to the Police against him and others over their acts of Extortion and Impersonation of the state Chapter of the Party.
“2. That Mr. Igara, by the Constitution of our party has no legal right to usurp or impersonate the office of the State Chairman, having ceased to be the state chairman after his election as the South East National Vice Chairman in March this year.
“3. That no law court has invalidated the existence or activities of the Acting State Chairman Mr. Emmanuel Oti and his Executive members, hence it was wrong and illegal for Mr. Igara to impersonate the Chairman and his executive by carrying out their legally recognised functions without their consent or approval.
“4. That we are aware that following the petition, he had been invited by the police to which he refused to honour.
“5. That while we recognise and respect the judgement which recognised Barr. Julius Abure as the National Chairman, Abure’s faction which Igara is part of has no right to flagrantly ignore the appeal and the motion for stay of execution that had been duly filed against them, by purpotedly dissolving and imposing a new Caretaker leadership on the Abia State Chapter, against the provisions of the law and the Constitution of our party.
“6. Again, the Abia State Chapter of Labour Party had gone further to secure a validly issued order of court which restrains Abure, Igara and others from those activities which prompted our petition to the Police.
“7. If we could recognise and respect the judgment of court on Abure, we do not see any reason why Abure and Igara should ignore the Appeal and Motion for Stay of Execution filed in the same court. Why should Abure and Igara choose the court orders to obey or ignore.
“8. Finally, we wish to emphatically state that the State Chapter of the Labour Party is peaceful and law abiding, hence every single action we have taken, including our petition to the Police against Igara which led to his arrest, has been in line with the provisions of the law, therefore those trying to pander to emotions by blackmailing the Abia State Government over his arrest are either ignorant of the facts, or are doing so for selfish political reasons, and should be ignored by the public.”
