- Debunks defection Tales, Restates Commitment To Obi-Dient Movt, Labour Party
By Demi Adeniyi
Chairman of the Labour Party in Lagos State Mr Ezekiel Kayode Salako has said his mission and focus is to deliver Lagos State to the Labour Party.
He stated this, even as he debunked in strong terms allegations that he has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
His reaction followed on the heels of what he called “malicious reports” in some online media, which had described him as “a mole of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC in Labour Party”.
Salako said he remained the state chairman of the party and is irrevocably committed to the Labour Party and is an unapologetic follower of the Obi-dient Movement.
Salako who disclosed these in a personally signed statement issued on Monday, said he had not defected to the APC, or any party for that matter, and has no intention to do so now, or in the near future.
He described the news of his purported defection as baseless, mischievous and the handiwork of his traducers, who are already jittery of the impact he has made with Lagos State Labour Party setup within a short period of time, and further reechoed it loud and clear that he is unfazed with such uninvestigated, and fictitious reports that only exists in the imaginations of the fabricators.
The statement of Salako who just returned from the 2-day National Leaders/Stakeholders Retreat of the party in Abuja reads in parts thus:
“I came back on Friday, September 16 from the Abuja retreat to preside over the meeting of the State Working Committee (SWC) of my party in the state.
“We were in the meeting for almost 7 hours. We couldn’t finish treating all the issues on the agenda on that day after 8pm in the evening.
We extended the meeting to Saturday, and I still presided over that of Saturday for about another 5 hours.
“On Sunday, I went to attend the meeting of the elders/leaders advisory council of the party, which I gave approval to for its running, since I became the chairman of the party in the state.
“On Monday, September 20, 2022, which is this morning, I will be in a meeting with the Lagos State commissioner of police on his invitation.
After the meeting, I will be accompanying HE. Peter Gregory Obi to a programme he is having around Lekki here in Lagos.
“But, the news of my purported defection to APC, has been flying around since the same Friday morning from social media propagandists, enemies of the outstanding progress I am achieving for my party in the state right now.
How would I have defected and, at the same time, still be running the Labour Party system in the state. That is not true, and can never be true.
“Olukayode Salako is a flowing river. When I am operating in a place, I operate committedly, passionately and with all sincerity of purpose there, and don’t ever look back.
“Those who know me, they know me for who I am.” He said.
While addressing insinuations of being a mole of Tinubu in some social media quarters, he said “I am not a mole to Tinubu system in the Labour Party, and can never be.
“Bola Tinubu’s APC system anywhere knows.
They know in their conscience of conscience that I am not a mole, and can never be. I have left that party, just like many Nigerians, who now find my party very attractive, and have been coming to join the party in droves as well.
“As I speak, over 60% of the members of the Labour Party also came in from different political platforms, the same way I came.
“If nobody is accusing anybody else of being a mole to anybody, then Salako too should be spared of all these distractive tendencies.
“His Excellency, Peter Obi and Dr. Doyin Okupe, his national campaign DG, also recently joined Labour party around the same time I also came. And many others like that.
“I reiterate, I am not a mole to anybody in the Labour Party, and can never be.
I don’t operate politically with such kind of a shameless, vague and undignifying character.
“God has made me a king in the Lagos Labour Party system already, as the chairman of the party.
What then would I still be looking for in a place, where I voluntary left out of my own volition?!
“What else would I still be looking for in a Tinubu political system, where I operated for 22 years, without finding fulfillment?
“They said I have left Labour Party to go back to APC.
“To leave as a king in Labour Party to go and become what in APC? Never!
That can ever be from Olukayode Salako!
“I am a man of dignity and integrity. I am a man of strong character. I am a highly principled man. I don’t even operate like that.
“My mission as the chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State is to make my party the next ruling party in the state.
How can I possibly be operating with that kind of a mission, and still be working as a mole for Tinubu or APC?
Do they ever tally?
“I am not a mole to Tinubu, or any presidential candidate whatsoever in the coming presidential election in Nigeria. It is not in the nature and character of my DNA to operate like that.
“I am still the chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State, and I am ever consistently OBI-DIENTLY Labour in the passionate, committed and the most classical way.
“I repeat, my utmost mission is to continue to run Labour Party well, and to do it to win my state for Peter Obi, as well as, for the Labour Party to form the next government in Lagos State.” He concluded emphatically.