LP crisis deepens as Abure hits back at Peter Obi, Alex Otti

The crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) appeared to have worsened as the LP’s leadership announced that the party’s presidential ticket for the 2027 general election is now open to all qualified Nigerians to contest.

Julius Abure, the LP’s former national chairperson, announced this on Monday at the party’s national executive committee meeting in Abuja.

A video clip which showed him making the announcement was uploaded on TVC’s Facebook page.

“We (LP faction) have not yanked off (names of) Alex Otti and Peter Obi (from the list of people contesting for party tickets). We have simply said that the doors of the party are open to others,” Mr Abure said.

Mr Obi, the LP presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, was earlier adopted as the party’s candidate for the 2027 general election.

Like Mr Obi, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, who won the 2023 election on the LP platform, has been tipped to get the party’s ticket for his bid for a second term.

Mr Abure was apparently hitting back at Messrs Obi and Otti for facilitating a meeting that recently saw the emergence of a party caretaker committee.

Why the automatic tickets were withdrawn

Mr Abure argued that the decision to stop issuing automatic tickets to individuals was in line with Sections 222 and 225 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.

“The Labour Party Constitution is also clear on this that we cannot deny people who are interested in running for an elective office.

“So what we have done is to open the window to accommodate more people,” he said, stressing that democracy was about “numbers.”

“The more the merrier: The more people (aspirants) we have, the better for the party and even the candidates themselves because if they emerge from a competitive process, it gives more confidence and shows you are the best,” Mr Abure said.

Connecting the Dots

Mr Abure and his team’s action was apparently in response to the LP’s NEC/ extended Stakeholders’ meeting held on Wednesday at Government House, Umuahia, Abia State.

Messrs Obi and Otti were believed to have facilitated the meeting.

Nigeria’s former finance minister, Nenadi Usman, emerged at the meeting as the chairperson of the Labour Party Caretaker Committee.

The emergence of the caretaker committee consequently ended Mr Abure’s and others’ reign as party executives.

The 29-member committee was mandated to organise ward, local government, state congresses and national convention of the party within 90 days.

Meanwhile, Mr Abure has since dissociated himself from the meeting. Obiora Ifoh, the spokesperson of the Abure-led executives, declared the outcome of the Umuahia meeting as “illegal.”

Abure’s U-Turn

Before the current leadership crisis in the LP, Mr Abure had backed the automatic ticket earlier announced for Mr Obi.

During a June meeting of the LP’s National Working Committee (NWC), the then national chairperson expressed satisfaction with Mr Obi’s leadership roles in ensuring that the party returned to a “formidable entity” capable of winning the next general election.

“We (LP) have said that we are focused on 2027. That is why we are the only party that has produced its candidate for the 2027 presidential election,” he had said, referring to Mr Obi.

“We know where we are going and we have refused to be distracted. We will definitely get to our destination of giving Nigerians a better nation,” Mr Abure added at the meeting.