The Labour Party (LP) has declared it will approach the 2027 general elections with a fully established national structure, ensuring it has agents in every polling unit across the country.
Nenadi Usman, the acting chairperson of a faction of the party, stated that this strategy marks a significant shift from its approach in the 2023 election. She reflected on the party’s performance and its future plans in an interview with DW Africa.
“The way we are going to conduct ourselves will be totally different from what we did in 2023,” she said. “Because in Hausa land,we have a saying that says that ‘when the music changes, the dance steps have to change to suit the music.’”
Usman, a former senator and finance minister, firmly believes the LP was the rightful winner of the 2023 presidential election. She pointed to specific states where the party performed strongly as evidence.
“In 2023, after the elections, I don’t know if you can remember the numbers,” she said. “Labour Party had won in Lagos,we had won in Rivers, we had won in Plateau, and I want to limit my example to just those three states where Labour Party won massively, landslide. “If you pick just those three states,add up what was taken away from Labour Party, we practically won that election.”
She also commented on the Supreme Court verdict that upheld President Bola Tinubu’s election, suggesting that the Nigerian public remains unconvinced by the outcome.
“They did what they did, but they didn’t convince Nigerians that that was what happened,” she said. “Most Nigerians are aware of what happened,even though the courts decided. You know, it’s like you take a case to court and then you are being asked to now provide the proof. “The person who should provide the proof is INEC,because that is the referee in the game. Even the INEC refuses to provide you the information that you need to prove your case. So it was a bit not too clean. Nigerians know that and people are just waiting.”
Usman went on to dismiss the common criticism that the Labour Party is merely a one-man movement built around its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi. She argued that the party’s deep roots in national trade unions provide a ready-made structure across the entire country.
“First and foremost, let’s just understand, the Labour Party has always been in existence; but throughout the history of the Labour Party, it wasn’t really taken seriously,” she said. “And Peter(Obi) successfully was able to convince the average Nigerian that you can have a better deal. And because of that, most Nigerians were convinced enough to have followed him. “So,the Labour Party then became bigger than it had ever been, right from inception. The labour unions are part of the Labour Party. There is no village, no hamlet, no polling unit in Nigeria where you don’t have a worker who belongs to one of the trade unions, one of the labour unions. “So,how can you say you don’t have people to man polling units for you everywhere? You see, something is definitely not adding up.
She concluded by stating that the party is now focused on utilising this existing network to its full potential for the next election.
“Something went terribly wrong, but these are the things we’re trying to correct so that in future, when the Labour Party now puts forward a candidate, it will put a good foot forward, and the right structures that should man all the polling units, they are there already, it’s just that they were not being utilised. We will utilise them when the time comes.”
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