This week has been a tumultuous one for Nigeria’s Labour Party with so much happening around the party which gave a mighty scare to the main political parties in the 2023 Presidential Election.
The emergence of Peter Obi as the presidential candidate of the party in 2023, had given the formerly obscure party a national outlook and many would say, credibility in the eyes of voters in Nigeria.
That particular event, and the fact that Peter Obi was able to galvanize massive segments of the voting populace to the Labour Party, had effectively positioned the party as a threat to the major political parties in the country.
The crisis first started with Lamidi Apapa, who claimed to be a factional National Chairman of the party, effectively challenging Julius Abure, the defacto National Chairman who was supporting Peter Obi in the 2023 elections.
Next came the corruption allegations against Julius Abure by the National Treasurer of the Labour Party, Oluchi Opara. Opara went to the national media and said Abure had sidelined her from her duties to carry out corrupt activities. This development led the National Working Committee of the party to suspend Oluchi Opara from her duties.
The dust had hardly settled on those allegations before the Nigerian Police, in a most humiliating and denigrating manner, arrested Julius Abure on allegations of murder! Thankfully, Abure was released the next day on bail.
This is too much distraction for a rising political party, and it paints grey clouds about the stability of the party.
There seems to be a major struggle for the soul of the party and the National Chairman has been identified as the weak link. Many analysts have called on the Chairman to step aside, for investigations to be carried out on the weighty allegations
These developments have led some segments of supporters of Peter Obi, popularly known as “Obidients” to call on the 2023 presidential candidate to exit the Labour Party, and birth a brand-new party that would be “wholistically” clean from day one.
Peter Obi leaving the Labour Party would definitely lead to a massive reduction in the popularity and credibility of the Labour Party in Nigeria.
There are definitely warning signals ahead. The Labour Party needs to understand the vantage role and opportunity, they currently have to drive change in Nigerian politics. The popularity will be fast out the door if the corruption and credibility allegations continue to linger amongst the leadership of the party.
