The former National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has expressed willingness to align with President Bola Tinubu or former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election, while excluding the Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Peter Obi, from his preferred political alliances.
Abure, however, stated that his decision to back any presidential candidate would be influenced by the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case concerning the Labour Party leadership, his political interests and ideology, as well as the acceptability of the candidate.
He also promised to mobilise his supporters against Obi, accusing the former Anambra State governor of wasting the goodwill and political machinery that contributed to his impressive performance in the 2023 presidential election.
Meanwhile, the NDC and Obi’s camp dismissed Abure’s position, maintaining that they had moved beyond the former Labour Party chairman and were concentrating on the 2027 presidential contest.
Speaking exclusively to The PUNCH, Abure said he would consult his followers and determine which candidate to support if the Supreme Court failed to deliver its judgment before the end of November.
Asked which of the three major presidential contenders he was prepared to support, Abure said, “As for me, we are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide our case, and if the judgment is not coming before the end of this November, we will rationalise the offer of whoever wants our support.
“However, it must tally with our interest and ideology, and he must be a sellable candidate. Once these are settled, our faces will be everywhere. I am talking about the same faces that took Peter Obi everywhere in 2023.”
He further stated, “We are open to working with any of the major candidates, but as former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, said, ‘I know whom I will not hand over to. But I don’t know who I will hand over to.’ So, similarly, I am very sure that I wouldn’t support Peter Obi for the 2027 general election. But I am open to an alignment with others.”
Abure, who maintained that the NDC was excluded from the parties he might support because of Obi’s presence, disclosed that he had yet to begin discussions with any presidential candidate.
“Yes, obviously the NDC is not included. I don’t see any reason to support Peter Obi again. I will not. And I am saying this with conviction and without any fear of contradiction. However, as of now, I am not in talks with any candidate yet. This is because it’s not just about me. It’s also about my followers and their interests,” he said.
The former LP chairman claimed that his supporters remained committed to the party structure under his control, despite some members defecting to other political platforms.
He accused Obi and Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, of weakening the party’s leadership, alleging that its organisational structure had been dismantled from the ward level to the national headquarters.
“Right now, they are standing by the structure of the party, the same one Otti and the illegal leadership he forced on the Labour Party sacked from wards, states to national level. What these people did to this party was a big disservice. But we know that I was their target,” Abure stated.
The disagreement between Abure and Obi emerged from prolonged leadership disputes within the Labour Party, including disagreements over the national convention and control of its organisational structure.
While Abure accused Obi and Otti of aggravating the crisis by establishing a parallel National Working Committee in Owerri, supporters of the former LP presidential candidate alleged that Abure violated an earlier agreement to conduct an inclusive convention beginning at the ward and state levels before the national convention.
The disagreement further deepened the rift between Obi and the Abure-led faction, prompting Obi to distance himself from the Labour Party structure and pursue another political platform.
Abure argued that the crisis revealed Obi’s leadership deficiencies, questioning his ability to govern Nigeria after allegedly failing to effectively manage a political party.
“Obi’s behaviour in the Labour Party is now what people are using to assess if he can truly lead the country. This is because if you can’t lead a micro, there is no way you can lead a macro,” he said.
He also faulted Obi’s movement from the Labour Party to the African Democratic Congress and subsequently the NDC, alleging that the former presidential candidate sought to recreate the leadership crisis experienced in his previous party.
According to Abure, Obi eventually abandoned the ADC after discovering that he could not achieve his political objectives there, while some of his supporters remained in the party and others followed him to the NDC.
Asked whether Obi would enjoy the same level of freedom he had under his leadership, Abure insisted that the circumstances in the NDC were different, arguing that its national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, maintained firm control of the party.
“No way! Let Obi compare the freedom and leverage he enjoyed under our leadership to what he is experiencing in the NDC; he already knows the difference. You can see that Senator Dickson is fully in charge and he’s not giving up the party’s leadership,” he said.
Abure added that Dickson had learnt lessons from the Labour Party crisis and was determined to prevent a similar leadership conflict from occurring in the NDC.
Assessing Obi’s prospects in the 2027 presidential election, Abure predicted that the former governor would not replicate his performance in 2023.
“Let me say clearly that Obi will not record the successes he recorded in the 2023 general election. That is because he has squandered his goodwill, human capital, resources, and mismanaged all the gains he had in 2023,” he said.
Abure alleged that Obi’s exit from the Labour Party had deprived him of the organisational structure and campaign network that helped him garner more than six million votes in the previous presidential election.
Responding, the spokesperson for the NDC Presidential Campaign Council, Constance Ikokwu, dismissed Abure’s comments, saying the party was focused on matters of national importance.
Ikokwu told The PUNCH that Obi remained committed to his campaign and efforts to secure victory in 2027.
She said, “Mr Peter Obi is fully occupied with the campaign trail, focused on the important task of leading a national effort towards the 2027 presidential contest, an election that offers Nigerians an opportunity to rescue the country and change its direction.
“In the light of that, all we can say is good luck to Mr Julius Abure in his new ventures.”
Similarly, Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri, said the former LP chairman was no longer relevant to the campaign’s immediate concerns.
“We no longer talk about Abure. We have moved on from them. We have an election less than 70 days away, and then we are campaigning,” Zekeri stated.
He urged Nigerians who believed in equity, justice, fairness, capacity, compassion and competence to support Obi, whom he described as the most suitable candidate to lead the country forward.
Zekeri, however, acknowledged that not all Nigerians would support Obi, noting that differing political positions were part of democratic practice.
He argued that Abure’s decision against supporting Obi stemmed from personal grievances rather than national interest.
“The individual you mentioned (Abure) has now said he doesn’t want to support Obi, and his reason for that was that he has an axe to grind. I think he should be asking himself why he should place his personal sentiment and belief above national interest. But that is up to him.
“However, we are not discussing him. He is not critical to what we are doing at this time,” he added.
Post Views: 0