The Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) says presenting Peter Obi as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election was the “greatest political mistake”.
On Wednesday, Obi dumped the Labour Party and officially defected to the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement, Obiora Ifoh, factional National Publicity Secretary of the party, said Obi’s defection to the ADC marks a “liberation” for the party.
Ifoh stated that the party no longer regrets the defection, describing it as long overdue.
He said Obi’s exit merely formalised a political divorce that had already taken place months earlier amid the party’s prolonged leadership crisis.
“The leadership of the Labour Party took note of the defection of its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and a few of his supporters to the African Democratic Congress,” the statement reads.
“We also took note of the lacklustre speech Obi made at the occasion and wondered what new things he intends to sell to Nigerians.”
Ifoh said the party had effectively parted ways with Obi and some of his allies in the national assembly since September 2024.
“For us in the Labour Party, we wondered why it took them this long to make the move, because we have, since September 2024, parted ways with Peter Obi and some of his blind supporters in the national assembly,” he said.
“We have patiently waited for this day. The party is finally liberated by this defection, and, as party leaders, we count it as a blessing.”
The factional LP spokesperson said the party had repeatedly urged Obi and his loyalists to leave if they could not work with the Abure-led leadership.
“It will be on record that the leadership of the Labour Party had long urged Obi and his disgruntled followers to exit the party if they were unable to work with the leadership,” Ifoh said.
“As a matter of fact, the party had suspended many of the lawmakers for anti-party activities and was clearly going to mete out the same treatment to the presidential candidate but for the intervention of some well-meaning Nigerians.”
Ifoh alleged that Obi and Alex Otti, governor of Abia, have been fuelling the internal crisis within the party.
“We had also expected Governor Otti to follow Obi out of the party,” he added.
“We are surprised that even though he has been suspended from the party, he is still loitering around. It is still not too late for him to follow his political leader.
“The charade which took place today in Enugu was largely boycotted by prominent political and traditional institutions in the south-east.
“All we saw were mere spent political forces who cannot win in their wards should there be an election today.”
Ifoh claimed that Obi’s 2023 presidential candidacy weakened the south-east’s standing in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
“He must be told that the south-east lost out completely in President Ahmed Tinubu’s government because they trusted and believed in him in 2023,” he said.
“While some states of the federation boast as many as five ministers, the entire south-east was given a paltry five ministerial slots.
“The marginalisation against the zone has continued even in infrastructure allocation, and I wonder if the south-east will repeat the same political harakiri again.”
He appealed to Nigerians to give the LP another opportunity ahead of future elections.
“We urge Nigerians to watch out for the Labour Party. We gave Nigerians a candidate we thought was good for the nation in 2023, but time has since proved that we made the greatest political mistake,” Ifoh said.
“We plead for forgiveness from Nigerians. We are already working out the best prospect that we hope will bring Nigeria back to its glorious days.”
