Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has given a hint that he could dump the party ahead of the 2027 presidential election due to an unresolved leadership crisis currently rocking the party.
He said this during an engagement with his supporters on his Verified X space, hosted by Parallel Facts, on Saturday
The former Amambra State Governor explained that his primary focus, which committed members of the Obidient Movement have bought into; is all about making Nigeria work for all citizens; as such, he refuses to be distracted.
According to him, the contrived crisis in the Labour Party was part of a distractive strategy, which neither he nor his supporters were willing to fall for.
Obi said,
“Our engagement is about Nigeria, they are trying to change our focus. What we want to do is not about Labour Party; it is about what the Obidients want to do about Nigeria.
“We are thinking about water, we are thinking about power, we are thinking about employment, thinking about security. That should be our focus.
“The other matter we will deal with. We were somewhere, we didn’t start with Labour.
“I’m a Christian. Jesus said, When you go into a city, try to change them, live with them, fast with them. in the end, you can’t, come out and even wash the sand that is on your shoes.
“He didn’t say go there and die with them. I tell you, I’m making spirited efforts to change them (LP), but I’m not going to die with them.
“That will not stop what we set out to do. We will try to change them (LP), if we can’t, we will leave them; we will not die with them.”
Meanwhile, the Director General of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation in the 2023 elections, Osuntokun has said that the absence of Obi, members of the National Assembly and other strategic stakeholders of the party at the just concluded National Convention of the party was an indication of the non-acceptability of the convention.
Osuntokun also described the national convention as a kangaroo convention.
Speaking on ARISE NEWS Channel yesterday, he also described as a Greek gift, the award of the 2027 presidential ticket of the party to Obi.
He said the Abure-led party was not in a position to promise anybody any ticket as due processes were not followed, stressing that the processes to win the presidential ticket are well laid out through the convocation of a presidential convention with elected delegates.
“Does it mean that the purported chairman does not know the process to be followed for the election of a presidential candidate?” Osuntokun queried, adding “This is one of the problems we are complaining of.”
He said Abure’s ambition to sit tight in office as the national chairman of the party is part of the problems of the Nigerian leaders, who would not leave the office when the ovation is loudest.
He explained that soon the stakeholders will hold an authentic convention that will produce the national executive members of the party.
Osuntokun said without Obi and the Obidient Movement, there would be nothing left of the party.