2027: Labour Party not missing Peter Obi — Abure

The Julius Abure-led Labour Party (LP) yesterday dismissed insinuations that the defection of the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) had affected the LP’s fortunes.

Rather, Abure claimed that the party remained intact and would grow stronger with Obi’s exit, noting that those who held such views had forgotten that the LP was already doing well on its own before Obi’s arrival in 2022.

Addressing party faithful during a rally held at its National headquarters in Abuja, he recalled that before Obi joined the LP, it had been “strategically-positioned” as a viable opposition party.

He added that the strength of the party at the time encouraged the former governor of Anambra State to register for membership.

“LP is intact, and people thought that when some people leave the party the party will die. But, no, we are stronger and we will continue to win elections”, Abure told the rally.

Abure acknowledged Obi’s contributions after he joined the party, but insisted that it would be wrong to agree with the narrative that without Obi’s influence, there would have been no LP.

He spoke further, “We had laundered the image of our party with several people of influence coming to us to say they want to join, some actually joined.

“Only recently, the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, told the world that he joined the party before Peter Obi did; this is true.

“He also said he was not going to defect with Peter Obi. On the night Peter Obi defected, I received a telephone call from our Vice-Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed.

“He said he is not leaving the party because it was the platform upon which he, along with the former candidate, received 10 million votes from Nigerians, which was reduced to 6 million votes. We all know what happened.”

Baba-Ahmed, who also addressed the rally, assured the members that he remained a member of the LP and was ready to make himself available to serve Nigeria in 2027.

Although he did not officially declare that he would run for the presidency during the rally, Baba-Ahmed promised to make his intentions known when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the timetable for the 2027 polls.

However, findings by the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday indicated that the party had positioned Baba-Ahmed to pick the presidential ticket for 2027.

Baba-Ahmed, while making a comparison between himself and Obi, said that, although he served as his running mate in 2023, he had long aspired to be president before Obi joined the race.

He explained, “I am my own boss. I contested for the presidency in 2019 before Peter Obi.

“I agreed to partner with Peter Obi in 2023 because I saw an opportunity to unite Nigerians, and I accepted it.

“I am a Nigerian and will make my decision known when the whistle is blown. Yes, I’m Nigerian, I am a Hausa man and Muslim. Bola Tinubu is a human being, and there are human beings in the Labour Party.”

Meanwhile, the LP promised free tickets for Nigerian youths willing to contest the 2027 polls on the party’s platform in line with its philosophy of social democracy.

“If you have capacity and character but you don’t have money, we will give you a ticket and campaign for you.

We did it in 2023.

“We are ready to do the same from now to 2027. We are going to mentor the youths and even give those who are good, free tickets,” Abure told the young people at the rally.

According to him, the party does not condone godfathers or allow anyone to dictate its affairs by imposing the personal interests of some individuals on members.