The leadership crisis in the Labour Party escalated on Monday as a faction loyal to Julius Abure, the embattled national chairman, withdrew the automatic presidential and gubernatorial tickets previously reserved for Peter Obi and Alex Otti for the 2027 election.
This decision was announced to the public at the National Executive Council meeting of the Abure-led faction of the opposition party on Monday in Abuja.
The party said that it has thrown open all its tickets, from the presidency to the House of Assemblies to all qualified Nigerians.
“NEC in session also reviewed the decision of the National Convention to reserve its Presidential and Governorship tickets for Peter Gregory Obi and Alex Otti respectively,” a communique from the meeting reads.
“Consequently, all tickets of the party from Presidency to the House of assemblies are open to all qualified Nigerians.”
This comes barely a week after Obi, Otti and other party stakeholders dissolved the Abure-led National Working Committee at a meeting in Abia State.
Abure had earlier warned Otti, the convener of the meeting, to refrain from meddling in party administration and focus on governance.
Nonetheless, the stakeholders present at the meeting issued a communiqué establishing a 29-member caretaker committee, chaired by Senator Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington Nwaokecha as secretary, with a 90-day mandate to resolve the leadership crisis.
The communiqué also highlighted concerns over the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not recognising any leadership within the party.
Consequently, the committee was tasked with organising ward, local government, and state congresses that would culminate in a national convention to elect new party leaders.
However, the Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) swiftly rejected the outcome of the meeting, calling it null and void.
In a statement by Obiora Ifoh, the party’s national publicity secretary, the opposition party criticised Otti’s involvement, accusing him of overstepping his boundaries and lacking the authority to convene such a meeting.
Ifoh further argued that the caretaker committee was not recognised by the party’s constitution or Nigeria’s electoral laws.
