‘LP is on the ballot’ — Abure asks voters to disregard Obi’s by-election directive

Julius Abure, factional chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has asked eligible voters to disregard Peter Obi‘s directive ahead of by-elections across the country.

On Thursday, the former LP presidential candidate implored his supporters to vote for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the forthcoming by-elections.

Obi, who is a member of the ADC-led coalition, said his decision was hinged on the LP having no candidates recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) amid an internal crisis.

The electoral umpire excluded the names of LP candidates from its list on August 2 — a move that prompted a protest march to the commission’s Abuja headquarters last week.

The candidates had emerged from primaries conducted by the Abure-led national working committee (NWC) amid a leadership tussle within the party.

Reacting in a personal statement on Thursday, Abure said Obi’s directive is “misleading, mischievous and delusional”.

‘OBI DESPERATE TO LEAD NIGERIA’

The factional chairman asked party faithful to ignore the “malicious directive” and go ahead with the casting of their votes for LP and their candidates.

Abure said the former Anambra governor is too “desperate” to lead Nigeria, adding that his “desperation to control the soul of the party had made him go haywire”.

“It is unfortunate that Obi has turned himself into an irony and a paradox in the Nigerian political space,” Abure said.

“He is now reputed to have elevated subterfuge in the game of politics and has of late been crying wolf where there is none.

“He has turned himself into an ‘Uber’ politician, not willing to take a position and stand by his decision.

“He has now booked a place for himself in the Guinness Book of Records as a person affiliated with many political parties pari passu, all in his desperation to preside over Nigeria.

“Nigerians should not forget in a hurry that it was Peter Obi who created the crisis in the Labour Party, which he is now citing as a reason why people should not vote for the party.

“Peter Obi and Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State, hosted the ill-fated and illegal expanded stakeholders meeting in Umuahia on September 4, 2024.

“He has also co-funded the crisis all this while and went as far as leading a protest march to INEC headquarters against his own party. His desperation to control the soul of the party has made him go haywire.

“A man who received so much goodwill from the party leadership but turned around to repay them with evil.

“This is why we have maintained that Peter Obi lacks the competence, character and capacity to actualise the vision of a new Nigeria.

“What Obi does not know is that Labour Party is on the ballot and our candidates are contesting the election in spite of all his efforts to strangulate the Labour Party.

“The party, unknown to him, has done everything within the law to ensure that our candidates participate in the bye-election and, of course, in all other future elections.”

Abure added that “Nigerians have come to know who Obi really is”.