By Atoyebi Nike
The Labour Party has been thrown into deeper crisis as the Julius Abure-led faction issued a stern 48-hour ultimatum to former presidential candidate Peter Obi, demanding he resign his membership of the party following his public support for the new opposition coalition spearheaded by the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The ultimatum, announced in a statement by the faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, came a day after Obi declared his allegiance to the coalition, which recently adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its political vehicle ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a strongly worded statement issued Thursday, the faction’s spokesperson, Obiora Ifoh, accused Obi of working behind the scenes to lure party members into the new coalition, while still claiming loyalty to Labour.
“Labour Party is not available for people with dual agendas,” Ifoh said. “You can’t belong to LP in the morning and a different party in the evening.”
The coalition, unveiled on Wednesday and backed by top political figures including Obi, Atiku Abubakar, and David Mark, plans to use the ADC as its platform for the 2027 general elections. David Mark was named interim national chairman, with former Osun State governor Rauf Aregbesola appointed secretary.
Obi defended the move, describing it as a step toward building “a competent, capable and compassionate leadership” for Nigeria. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), he said, “No one group can change Nigeria alone. We must build bridges, not walls—even when those bridges are uneasy.”
But the Labour Party faction rejected the coalition outright, saying the alliance was full of “recycled and desperate politicians” who had contributed to Nigeria’s decline over the years.
“They are power mongers pretending to be rescuers,” Ifoh said. “The new Nigeria our youths are fighting for cannot come from those who mismanaged the country.”
The statement accused Obi of using the Labour Party’s platform for personal political deals and warned that any member found aligning with the coalition must resign within 48 hours or face expulsion.
Meanwhile, the coalition itself is already under fire from within. Dumebi Kachikwu, the ADC’s 2023 presidential candidate, criticized the group as “a club of retired politicians” seeking to stay relevant.
“They’re not the fire brigade. They’re the ones who set the house on fire,” Kachikwu said.
While the coalition has been hailed by some as a potential alternative to President Bola Tinubu’s APC, critics argue it lacks a clear agenda and risks becoming another alliance built on self-interest.
Despite the tensions, Obi maintains that the coalition is a necessary step for Nigeria’s future, insisting that unity across party lines is needed to challenge the current political order.
Whether the Labour Party can hold itself together in the face of such divisions remains to be seen.
