The immediate past President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata, has formerly join the race for who takes over from Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, come 2024.

The legal luminary who stormed the Edo State secretariat of the Labour Party (LP), to formally announced his intention to contest for the 2024 governorship election on the platform of the party, said he decided to aspire for the governorship seat on the platform of Labour Party because it is the only people-oriented party among all the registered political parties in Nigeria.

This is even as he promised to take the party to greater heights if nominated as the candidate of the party during its  primary election.

Akpata who lammented that the people have been taken out of the equation in governance and politics, disclosed that the interest for Edo people is the force behind his aspiration.

He assured that if given the party’s ticket as a candidate  in the September 21, 2024 governorship election, he will change the political  narrative of the state

“My interest is for the people of Edo State. And what I find out in politics and governance in Nigeria today is that the people have been taken out of the equation. Nobody cares about the people.

“So, when I look around, the only party I find to be people oriented and to be interested in the lots of our people is Labour Party. So I have come here to express my interest and to carry the people along,” he said.

The former, NBA president, who appealed for a level playing ground for all aspirants, urged the who-would-be party’s delegates to consider merit above ethnic and primordial sentiments.

He opined that the people of the state need the best among the aspirants to govern them, and not diaspora governor.

The state chairman of the party, Kelly Ogbaloi, in his remark, said the State Working Committee of the party has accepted to allow him to run, even as they assure a level-playing ground for all aspirants.