Why Peter Obi’s exit created vacuum in our party — LP spokesman
By Enitan Abdultawab
The Labour Party has admitted that the exit of its former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, left a major vacuum within the party ahead of the 2027 elections because the former president was a ‘colossus’.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, who spoke on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, described Obi as a dominant force whose departure significantly affected the opposition party.
“We can’t close our eyes to the fact that we lost Peter Obi, and he was a colossus within the party,” Asogwa said.
“So the last time I came here, I remember saying that his departure left a void in the party.”
According to him, the Labour Party had already begun preparing for Obi’s exit long before he officially aligned with the African Democratic Congress-led coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
“Before his departure, the rumour was already out there that he was leaving. Before he eventually left, the new leadership had already taken a number of steps to cushion the effects of that departure,” he stated.
Asogwa explained that the party was forced to “go back to the drawing board” in a bid to rebuild and strengthen its political structure after Obi’s exit.
He said the party eventually identified the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress as its strongest institutional support base.
“We discovered that the greatest potential that the Labour Party has is the institutional members it has in the name of NLC and TUC,” he said.
“We went back to marry them and successfully got them back. The former leadership alienated them, but thankfully we were able to bring them back into the fold.”
Despite Obi’s departure, the Labour Party spokesman insisted the party still has the strength to produce another strong presidential candidate capable of competing in the 2027 elections.
“The Labour Party that produced the former presidential candidate has capacity, even better capacity today, to produce someone of commensurate stature,” he added.
The comments come months after the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party reportedly issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Obi to formally resign from the party following his involvement in the opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress.
Obi was later unveiled as one of the major figures in the ADC coalition seeking to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
However, he exited the party due to its longstanding legal matters and has now pitched the tent with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which has now agreed to zone its presidential ticket to the South for just one term.
Reacting earlier, Labour Party National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, accused Obi of maintaining “dual political loyalties” and described the coalition as a gathering of “power mongers.”
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