I wrote my first letter to you dated July 31, 2022, which was widely accepted by Nigerians (both home and abroad). As part of the recommendations, the Labour Party has started rebranding its identity through strategic campaigns aimed at revolutionising the minds of Nigerians to embrace its ideologies, a development that should translate to building a formidable structure for the party across the breadth and length of the country if the momentum can be sustained in earnest.
However, there are other areas that have not yet been visibly touched and as a matter of urgency should be given the utmost attention so as to achieve optimal success ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Sir, it is worthy of note that your emergence as Labour Party standard-bearer has transformed the party from its “lightweight” identity to a reference point where the heavyweight parties like APC and PDP can’t but include in their political calculations and permutations. This is not an exaggeration as the two leading political parties, of course, who once tagged your party (Labour Party) as “party that has no structure” now seem perturbed by the momentum the party is gathering here and there.
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What surprises many is your level of wisdom in winning the hearts of your antagonists through non-violent politicking that is cleverly done to convince them in subscribing to your school of politics, despite the high level of propaganda to dissuade Nigerians from the real substance. No doubt, the Labour Party is like a smoke in the eyes of Nigerians that can’t be covered, no matter how hard the politicking may turn out to be.
On this note, it is important to seize the opportunity to reach out to more Nigerians (the information poor) who have no access to the internet or social media, hence, the reason for writing you this letter to be able to accommodate more of these recommendations which are germane to having a resounding victory, even as we prepare for the campaign proper starting later this month.
Your Excellency, there is more ground work to be done to ensure that the three major tribes – Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo are all captured in your campaign. It is also essential that the needs of all the electorates–irrespective of their ethnic nationalities or religious affiliations–are also taken into cognizance if the Labour Party must win come 2023.
For instance, the Hausas (the semi-illiterate among them) are more radio-friendly than surfing through the net for information. The Labour Party can reach out to this category of audience by designing a radio jingle in their indigenous language, explaining in clear terms why they should consider the Labour Party before other parties. It is a cost-effective way of reaching out to more heterogeneous audiences scattered in space and time.
Going forward, the national executives must also focus on the internal crisis in some states of the federation, especially Lagos where there is still pockets of contentions to the candidacy of Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour who is considered to be sitting on a keg of gunpowder, following the controversies surrounding his emergence as the party’s flag-bearer. The party leadership should visit the State and see things from the eyes of the eagle rather than through a third party.
Sir, another area you should focus more attention on is the synergy between your support group (PONSG) and the Labour Party. The relationship between the duo has not been really encouraging in recent times as some of these so-called groups haven’t been aligning with the existing structure of the Labour Party at the State, Local Government, and Ward level. For instance, Alimosho, being home to the largest polling units in Lagos, still has some support groups who have not yet deemed it fit to align to the Labour Party structure in the area. A support group cannot be greater than the political party that it is fronting for, hence, there is a lacuna when it is vise-versa. This is just one example out of the myriad other local governments in the country where such defects persist and it is a serious threat to the overall performance of the party come 2023. The Labour Party is the vehicle for other support groups and the latter must stoop low to subscribe to its ideologies if the Obi-Datti train must have a safe landing in the forthcoming presidential election. A word, they say, is enough for the wise!
- Arogbonlo Israel wrote from Lagos and can be reached via gemid931@gmail.com