The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Ken Asogwa, has admitted that the departure of the party’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, created a major vacuum within the opposition party.
Asogwa made the remarks on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme while reacting to Obi’s recent alignment with the African Democratic Congress-led coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
“We can’t close our eyes to the fact that we lost Peter Obi, and he was a colossus within the party.
“So the last time I came here, I remember saying to…his departure left a void in the party,” Asogwa said
According to him, the party had anticipated Obi’s exit long before it officially happened on December 31 and had already begun taking steps to minimise its impact.
“Before his departure, the rumour was already out there that he was leaving. Before he eventually left, the new leadership had already taken a number of steps to cushion the effects of that departure,” he stated.
He explained that the party subsequently returned “to the drawing board” to rebuild its structure and political base.
Asogwa said the Labour Party identified its strongest institutional support base in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
“We discovered that the greatest potential that the Labour Party has is the institutional members it has in the name of NLC and TUC,” he said.
“We went back to marry them and successfully got them back. The former leadership alienated them, but thankfully we were able to bring them back into the fold.”
The spokesperson also insisted that the party still possesses the capacity to produce another formidable presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The Labour Party that produced the former presidential candidate has capacity, even better capacity today, to produce someone of commensurate stature,” he added.
The comments come months after the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Obi to formally resign from the party following his participation in the opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Obi was unveiled as one of the prominent figures in the ADC coalition aimed at challenging President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.
Reacting in a statement, Labour Party National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, accused Obi of maintaining “dual political loyalties” and described the coalition as a gathering of “power mongers.”
