Imo West: Why Labour Party Will Win

ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES…

Earlier this evening, someone drew my attention to a planted piece of news in a local tabloid which purports to be an investigation into the chances of the Senatorial candidates for Imo West Senatorial District. That sponsored piece of journalistic garbage was apparently aimed at downplaying the surging popularity of the Labour Party’s candidate for Imo West Senatorial District by faltering and jittering candidates of the two opposition Parties in Orlu zone.

In that fiction passed off as a report, the writer, apparently dwelling in past political realities, struggled to present imaginary assumptions as realistic analyses of the state of political awareness in Southeast’s second largest senatorial district. The writer, being smart by half, tried to reduce the LP to the level of a largely unknown NRM, a Party I do not think has a Senatorial candidate in Orlu zone.

Obviously, the Labour Party still has some work to do in order to sustain the gains it has recorded with its extensive grassroots reactivation and the presence of Mr. Peter Obi as its presidential candidate, but no objective newshound or researcher would fail to place the LP as the Party to beat in Orlu zone.

Charles Ahize’s long-standing affinity with communities across Imo West and his underreported philanthropic works over the last thirty years would automatically place the LP at the frontline of the contest even without serious campaigns conducted. The automobile dealer has the advantage of name recognition in most of the LGAs in Imo West.

The Labour Party in Imo West also boasts of a hybrid political makeup, with formidable grassroots mobilizers from different political Parties and political families united behind the Party. For a good number of political old horses who are disenchanted with the state of political affairs in Imo West, Labour Party provides a good vehicle for them to effectively relaunch themselves and reassert their political prowess. Also, a good number of upcoming politicians, those that may be described as the Generation Z are also more inclined towards the Labour Party.

Elections are very dynamic political processes, and it is only a neophyte that would call an election outcome four clear months before election day, but if we must go along with the lousy fiction of that local soft- sale, then, the most accurate headline would have read something like; LP LEAVES PDP, APC GASPING, AS AHIZE CRUISES TO VICTORY.

Certainly, the Labour Party will need to increase the tempo of its campaign and mobilization efforts in order to ensure that the winning target of 80% of votes cast is not only met, but possibly surpassed.