2027: We’re not aware of coalition, Abure tenure has expired – Labour Party

The Usman Nenani-led faction of the Labour Party, LP, says it is not aware of any coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The factional Interim National Secretary of the party, Darlington Nwokocha, who said this on Friday, when he appeared as a guest on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television, stated that the LP has its internal structure and has not joined any such alliance.

Nwokocha distanced the party from the African Democratic Congress, ADC-led coalition, aimed at unseating the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2027 general elections.

DAILY POST reports that the coalition involves opposition figures such as Peter Obi, Atiku Abubakar, Nasir El-Rufai, and others under the ADC.

“Well, I don’t know about that, and I don’t know if we are in the ring; they’ve not told me that.

“When you talk about coalition – already Labour Party has the machinery of internal coalition. The Labour Party is getting extremely stronger,” he said.

Weighing in on Peter Obi’s participation in the coalition activities, Nwokocha explained that while the former Anambra governor remains respected for being the party’s 2023 presidential flagbearer, his engagements do not equate to the party joining any alliance.

He also affirmed that Julius Abure’s tenure as National Chairman had expired, citing a political accident as the reason for the emergence of the interim leadership.

When asked if he was worried that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, still recognises Abure as chairman on its portal, Nwokocha replied with a proverb saying, “That you place your picture in a place does not make you the owner of the place”.

Responding to a question on the role of Abia State Governor Alex Otti in Friday’s NEC meeting, he clarified that Otti was a legitimate member of the NEC under the party’s constitution.

Nwokocha also revealed that INEC was duly notified of the NEC meeting and confirmed that the party’s former women leader, Usman, who was absent from the meeting, had an emergency and would return before the weekend ends.

Speaking on resolving the internal crisis, he argued that the issue had already been decided by the courts.