Your political influence waning,’ LP chieftain tells Peter Obi

The Chairperson of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Dayo Ekong, has said the political influence of the 2023 presidential candidate of the LP, Peter Obi, has waned.

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Mrs Ekong, in a post on her X handle on Tuesday, said it was time for Mr Obi to “pause and ponder” on his ambition to become Nigeria’s president in 2027.

‘Why Obi’s influence is waning’

During the 2023 general election, Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, enjoyed overwhelming support from many Nigerians, especially from the South-east and South-south.

Although the LP candidate came third in the election, his party recorded surprising victories across states, a development attributed to the former governor’s political influence.

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But Mrs Ekong said Mr Obi’s “recent actions” were eroding his hitherto political influence in Nigeria.

The LP chairperson argued that the leadership crisis in the LP and Mr Obi’s alleged opposition to the Julius Abure-led faction of the party were behind Mr Obi’s waning influence.

“Peter Obi’s influence in the Nigerian polity appears to be waning, as Nigerians grow increasingly tired and wary of what some perceive as inconsistent antics and political manoeuvring.

“His (Obi’s) interventions, once seen as principled, now risk being viewed as disruptive and self-serving, alienating allies and diminishing his appeal,” she said.

Mrs Ekong further argued that the evidence of Mr Obi’s waning influence lies in recent electoral outcomes in Nigeria where his endorsement of candidates failed to deliver victories.

She stressed that the recorded election failures despite Mr Obi’s endorsements signalled a loss of the “magnetic pull” he once commanded, citing elections in Edo, Imo and Anambra States in which candidates endorsed by Mr Obi failed to win.

“The most telling blow came recently in the Anambra State by-elections, particularly in Onitsha – Peter Obi’s backyard and supposed stronghold.

“Here, we witnessed his sudden switch of allegiance, embodying the ‘Labour today, ADC tomorrow’ shenanigans that have confused supporters and diluted party loyalty,” she said.

Mrs Ekong recalled that before the Onitsha North 1 State Constituency rerun, Mr Obi “abandoned” the LP candidate in the election and endorsed Justina Azuka of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), even donning an ADC-branded cap during campaigns.

She said despite Mr Obi’s support, the ADC candidate failed to win, with the LP candidate performing even worse, while the APGA candidate won the exercise without the former governor’s backing.

“These patterns are not isolated; they point to a broader trend of waning influence. Public sentiment, as reflected in recent discussions, suggests that Nigerians are fatigued by Obi’s frequent shifts and perceived acrimony toward the Labour Party structures that once elevated him.

“A wise politician like Peter Obi, known for his prudence and vision, has suddenly lost so much appeal – even in his backyard,” she said.

“The threads of his political legacy are unravelling slowly but surely, undone by decisions that prioritise personal alliances over party cohesion.”

‘Step back’

Mrs Ekong advised Mr Obi to step back and engage in meditation to find out more reasons for his waning political influence in Nigeria.

She said the former governor should find out why parties he aligned with in Anambra, like ADC, “faltered so badly,” while APGA triumphed without him.

The chairperson suggested that Mr Obi’s ongoing acrimony against the Labour Party’s leadership could be hindering his support from Nigerians.

“Peter Obi has surrounded himself with those who he feels have his best interest at heart, but time will surely tell.

“We all openly admonished (Nyesom) Wike for his PDP/APC antics but turned a blind eye to Peter Obi’s LP/ADC antics. The electorate is watching all these and slowly making up their minds against 2027,” she added.

Background

The LP has been battling an intense leadership crisis for a while now which has split the party into two factions.

While the disputed National Chairperson of the party, Mr Abure, leads one of the factions, Peter Obi and Mr Otti, belong to another faction of the LP.

The LP’s National Executive Committee had sacked the Abure-led executive in September last year and appointed Ms Usman, a former minister of finance and ex-senator representing Kaduna South, to lead a 29-member caretaker committee and facilitate the election of a new party leadership within 90 days.

But weeks later, the Court of Appeal in Abuja recognised Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the LP.

However, the Supreme Court, on Friday, 4 April, set aside the judgement of the lower court.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously held that the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to have affirmed Mr Abure as chairperson of the LP since the substance of the case was about the party’s leadership.

It held that the issue of leadership was an internal affair of a party over which courts lacked jurisdiction.

The court upheld the appeal filed against the judgement by Mrs Usman.

The Supreme Court held that Ms Usman’s appeal was meritorious, as it also dismissed the cross-appeal filed by the Mr Abure-led faction of the LP for lacking merit.

But the Abure-led faction of the LP argued the Supreme Court did not sack Mr Abure and other executives of the party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, claimed that the Supreme Court’s position was that the matter was purely an internal affair of the party, insisting that the court did not set aside the Court of Appeal judgement of 13 November 2024, which affirmed Mr Abure as the national chairperson of the party.

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Meanwhile, in the heat of the leadership crisis in the LP, Mr Obi and other politicians from various political parties in the country formed the National Opposition Coalition Group to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.

The group, in July, adopted ADC as its platform for the 2027 general election.

Mr Obi later argued that his joining the opposition coalition under the ADC platform does not amount to anti-party activity because the coalition was for the 2027 election which had not come yet.