The Labour Party has issued a strong challenge to its former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, urging him to formally declare his departure from the party rather than continue with divided loyalties.
The call was made by the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, during an interview on Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics on Monday. His remarks followed Obi’s recent endorsement of African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidates during the August by-elections.
According to Obi, the endorsement was necessary because the Labour Party did not field candidates in several constituencies. But Arabambi accused him of deliberately misleading his supporters, insisting the move amounted to anti-party activity.
“Our plan is to get rid of these elements—people who are just an epitome of political extremism. We don’t want them in Labour Party,” Arabambi said, while accusing Obi of dragging prominent figures such as Nenadi Usman and Aisha Yesufu into his political camp.
The spokesperson was adamant that the Labour Party would proceed with its 2027 project without Obi, saying: “We are going to do our 2027 without Peter Obi; he will not have our ticket.”
Arabambi further challenged Obi directly: “If he believes he has that proficiency on his own to have seven million votes in 2027 general elections, we advise him to pronounce his departure from Labour Party.”
He stressed that the huge wave of momentum in 2023 was not personally Obi-driven but came from the anger and energy of the EndSARS youth protests and Nigerians’ discontent with former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“Now that they said they are going to ADC, we wish them well. Obi has one leg in Labour Party, one leg in PDP, and one leg in ADC,” Arabambi added.