The internal wrangling rocking the Labour Party (LP) escalated on Thursday as one of its factional national chairmen, Callistus Okafor, while officially announcing his exit from the party, declared that the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, cannot govern Nigeria.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, Okafor explained that his decision followed a series of consultations with members of his faction’s National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Council (NEC).
He cited unresolved leadership conflicts and dissatisfaction with the role played by Peter Obi.
“My team and I had carefully looked at what is happening in the Labour Party, including the crises that have been going on for seven years, and wondered how long it will continue,” he said.
He claimed to be leaving the LP with as many as five million supporters, declaring that they would now align with a new platform, ’Team Wazobia Nigeria’ which he described as a socio-political and non-partisan movement.
“I hereby stand today to announce to Nigerians and all the Labour Party faithful who are under my own faction that we are pulling out today as a team,” he said.
“We are moving from the Labour Party to Team Wazobia Nigeria. This crisis has come to a point where it’s no longer healthy in the Labour Party.”
Okafor directly criticised Obi for allegedly failing to address the internal disputes within the party, arguing that such failure casts doubt on Obi’s suitability for national leadership.
According to him, if the former governor of Anambra State could not address internal disputes within his party, it would be impossible for him to govern Nigeria.
“When His Excellency Peter Obi joined us in 2022, what did he do? He supported Abure, who has become his archenemy today. He supported him in everything he did despite the warning by our former National Treasurer, Ms Oluchi Opara, about his several embezzlements of Labour Party money,” he said.
“This is the time for reality. So, if he can’t govern the Labour Party, for me, he can’t govern Nigeria. And that is why I have to leave.”
Dismissing any chances of returning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Okafor argued that the mass defections within the PDP suggest a shift in political loyalty towards the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“You can see their governors and National Assembly members defecting every day into APC. What it means is that APC is the appealing party as of today.”
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