The Labour Party has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to its former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to formally resign his membership following his public alignment with the newly formed opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Obiora Ifoh, the National Publicity Secretary of the party made the call on Thursday in a statement, dismissing the coalition as an assemblage of “old, recycled, desperate and frustrated politicians” incapable of delivering a new Nigeria.
The Labour Party’s hardline stance followed Wednesday’s formal unveiling of the ADC coalition in Abuja, featuring Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi, and other opposition figures.
While the coalition presents itself as a united front against the ruling APC, the Labour Party’s statement exposes deep fractures within Nigeria’s opposition landscape
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, declared: “Labour Party has consistently said it is not part of the coalition and therefore, any of our members who is part of the coalition is given within 48 hours to formally resign his membership of the party.”*
The statement accused coalition members of being “power mongers whose only interest was self and not the people,” warning Nigerians that their promised “new Nigeria is Possible” slogan is a deceptive ploy.
“We are aware of several nocturnal meetings between Peter Obi and some of our members, lobbying them to join him in his new party,” Ifoh revealed, while noting that several party members had refused to defect.
The Labour Party framed the coalition as a gathering of failed leaders, stating: “All those who mismanaged Nigeria over the years are the ones that gathered themselves in the coalition… desperate politicians can’t birth new Nigeria.”
The statement took particular aim at what it described as political duplicity: “Labour Party is not available for people with dual agenda, people with deceptive persona. The party will not avail itself to individuals who have one leg in one Party and another leg elsewhere. People that in the morning, they will claim to be in the Labour Party and in the evening they are in coalition.”
Positioning itself as the authentic alternative, the Labour Party appealed to Nigeria’s youth demographic: “Nearly 70 percent of Nigerian population are youths who are tired of the old order, tired of gerontocrats deciding their fate.
The new Nigeria that the youths are dreaming of is not what can be realized from what we are seeing in the coalition.” It characterized coalition members as “opportunistic politicians who are only interested in relaunching themselves into circle of power.”
The party concluded by urging members to “remain loyal and keep the party structure intact ahead of future elections,” asserting that “the new Nigeria of our dream can only be realized through Labour Party.”
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