In what is seen as panic over its uncertain future, after its iconic presidential candidate in 2023, Mr. Peter Obi, dumped the crisis-ridden, self-destructive party for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has claimed that the party’s decision to grant Peter Obi the party’s 2023 presidential ticket was “a grave political error.”
In a statement issued in reaction to Obi’s move to ADC earlier today, the Abure faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, claimed that Obi’s exit marked the party’s “final liberation” from a crisis it accused the former presidential candidate of orchestrating.
Insisting that it had “effectively parted ways with Obi and some of his supporters as far back as September 2024,” Ifoh accused them of anti-party activities and an inability to work with the party’s leadership structure.
“The party had patiently waited for this day. Obi’s defection came long after the leadership had advised him and his loyalists to leave if they could not align with party discipline,” he claimed.
The Abure-led faction further accused Obi and Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, of sponsoring an internal rebellion against the party leadership, describing it as the root cause of the prolonged crisis within the Labour Party.
Obiora also expressed surprise that Governor Otti had not followed Obi out of the party, despite being suspended, urging him to “follow his political leader.”
Reacting to Obi’s declaration for ADC today, Wednesday December 31, at a rally in Enugu, the factional LP further claimed that the event was largely boycotted by prominent political actors and traditional institutions in the South-East, a claim it argued exposed what he described as the declining political influence of the former presidential candidate.
The party further blamed, rather illogically, that Obi’s 2023 presidential ambition for what it described as the South-East’s political marginalisation under the current administration, citing what it called inadequate ministerial representation and limited infrastructure allocation to the region.
“We gave Nigerians a candidate we believed was suitable at the time, but events have shown that we made a serious political miscalculation,” Ifoh claimed. “We appeal to Nigerians for forgiveness.”
The party assured Nigerians that it is repositioning and working towards presenting “a more credible and nationally acceptable leadership alternative” ahead of future elections.
