By Nnamdi Ojiego 

Deacon Kennedy Kawarhiebie Pela, better known as Ken Pela, was thegovernorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in Delta State in the 2023 general elections. 

In this interview, the economist and investment banker speaks on the crisis in the party, financial autonomy for local government areas and the recent council elections in Delta State among other issues. Excerpts:

Labour Party surprised many Nigerians with its outstanding performance in the 2023 general elections. However, since after the polls, it’s been from one crisis to the other. What is actually happening in the party? 
 Well, it’s natural. You know we have a situation where the party probably was not ready for the kind of explosion. So, for having not been prepared, you then have a situation where a lot has to happen to prepare the party. Remember that they said at one point that we were four people tweeting in a room, that we didn’t have the structures but, in 10 months, structures were developed, and you and I know, everybody knows who won the election. So when what was done was done, you have naturally those who are depressed, those who are confused, and new people who are coming in to take advantage of the situation. All that has to be managed, so what we are trying to do is to build a party that is strong enough for the 2027 general elections. 

 So what effort is the party making to have its national convention or does the recent one conducted by the Julius Abure led NWC still stand? 
  The situation in the Labour Party is not different. As it is today, we’ve had these kinds of situations several times in the other parties. So today we have the National Chairman and the National Working Committee, while we have the National Transition Committee that’s been put together by stakeholders. I believe that in the process of time, all this will work itself out and we’ll be able to reconcile to have a stronger and better party. Like I said, it is normal, we’ve had the same kind of situation in other parties before. 

Any date in sight for the National Convention to elect a new leadership? 
 I really can’t say at this point but like I said, efforts are on by our leader, you know, to try to reconcile the situations and I believe that that will work out in the process of time. 

Are you saying that there’s no faction in LP now?
  I wouldn’t say there are factions in the party. 

 Just a few days ago, the senator representing Imo East in the National Assembly, Onyewuchi Ezenwa, dumped LP for the APC. Similarly, some members state lawmakers in Enugu joined the PDP. What does this portend for the party?
  It’s normal in politics. People who eventually feel that their interests are not necessarily being protected or their interests are not better served in a particular place will move on. It’s normal. But in the same way, others would come. I believe that in the process of time, again, the dust will settle. And we would have the right kind of people together building up towards the 2027 general election. 

Talking about the election, how was your party’s outing in the recent LG poll in Delta State? 
 Yes! In some local governments and constituencies, LP participated and I was on ground to campaign along with my councilors and chairmanship candidates. And I can tell you that before this particular election, we have never had elections in that sense at the local government level. So to that extent, I will commend the state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, for attempting to, because usually, what would happen is that on that day, everybody would be at home and you will just hear that results have been announced. And so for the first time, there were pretensions to conduct the election. And so the ruling party campaigned and we campaigned. Even during the campaigns, many said they were not seeing me and our people campaigning.  Typically, you don’t see the Labour Party campaigning because we are going door to door. We’re going market to market. While these people do big rallies, where they pay for crowds to come to, we go door to door, market to market. And that’s what we did. And by the time they got to the fields in various constituencies and realized that they were probably going to lose the election, they began the usual rigging. So yes, while I commend them for the pretensions to do it, at the end of the day, it was probably better because before, people won’t even bother buying forms. This time, people paid for form and spent their money campaigning and all that. And they did what they would usually do to get their way. There was intimidation all over the places. There were snatching of ballot boxes. In fact, they didn’t allow materials to get to the majority of places where we had candidates because I was on ground. I drove virtually around the state on election day. In a lot of places where we had candidates, they didn’t even allow materials to get there. So to that extent, while there were pretensions to do the right thing, they still didn’t do it. So we are basically contesting the process. We’ve been looking at it legally and we’re going to contest the process. I can tell you that the Labour Party is going to contest the process and we’ll inform the general public when we file the petitions.

Still on LGA administration, what is your take regarding the financial autonomy granted the local councils by the Supreme Court? 
 It’s something that has been long coming. You know, you have a situation where typically, a lot goes to the local government, and typically it doesn’t get to them because it get hijacked at the state level. For example, look at what is happening in Abia State, so, if you have someone who is visionary and really wants to make a change, and election is done not by the state, but by INEC, there’s a chance that that kind of person may win in council elections. So that kind of person comes into the local government, and is able to prove himself in small area, with the resources that come there, he will make a difference. That’s what we need to begin to change this country.

 What we have now where everybody is running to Abuja or looking at the state will be different at the local level because you and I, we can see that this man that we know his house, we know where he comes from, we know his parents receives, let’s say, the sum of a billion naira every month but he’s not performing and living large with our commonwealth? Wetin you go do? You go go him  house until una see wetin him dey do, until he’s actually doing something, you won’t allow him any rest. That is when the  revolution for good governance will start in this country. 

 Are you saying that if INEC had conducted the LG election in Delta,  your  party would have won some seats? 
 I’m confident we would have done much better. I’ll give you an example. Even with what it was, in one constituency, our candidate won. I mean, I have the videos, I have everything, where in the five polling units, he was declared winner but at the end of the day, he wasn’t declared winner. So, those are the kinds of situations that we have. So, I support the NASS efforts to amend the constitution to empower INEC to handle LGA elections.

Will you vie again to govern your state in 2027? 
 The vision is for an appointed time, though it will tarry, if you wait, it will surely come.