Nenadi Usman: LP will do things differently in 2027 — we now have polling unit structures

Nenadi Usman, acting chairperson of a faction of the Labour Party (LP), says the party will approach the 2027 elections with a different strategy.

Speaking in an interview with DW Africa while reflecting on the party’s performance in the 2023 general election, Usman said the Labour Party now has a structure in place that will ensure that it is represented by agents in every polling unit across the country.

“The way we are going to conduct ourselves will be totally different from what we did in 2023,” she said.

“Because in Hausa land, we have a saying that says that ‘when the music changes, the dance steps have to change to suit the music.’”

The former senator representing Kaduna south said LP “practically won” the 2023 election despite the outcome declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

“In 2023, after the elections, I don’t know if you can remember the numbers,” she said.

“Labour Party had won in Lagos, we had won in Rivers, we had won in Plateau, and I want to limit my example to just those three states where Labour Party won massively, landslide.

“If you pick just those three states, add up what was taken away from Labour Party, we practically won that election.”

On the supreme court verdict that upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu, Usman, a former finance minister, said Nigerians were not convinced by the judgement.

“They did what they did, but they didn’t convince Nigerians that that was what happened,” she said.

“Most Nigerians are aware of what happened, even though the courts decided. You know, it’s like you take a case to court and then you are being asked to now provide the proof.

“The person who should provide the proof is INEC, because that is the referee in the game. Even the INEC refuses to provide you the information that you need to prove your case. So it was a bit not too clean. Nigerians know that and people are just waiting.

“And if things were going well, if the economy was growing, if the issue of insecurity had been reduced, if the number of children out of school had reduced, if the average family could have three square meals a day, then people may not really worry much about what happened. They would maybe have stopped talking about what happened in 2023.”

Usman also dismissed claims that the Labour Party is a one-man movement built around Peter Obi, the party’s 2023 presidential candidate.

“First and foremost, let’s just understand, the Labour Party has always been in existence; but throughout the history of the Labour Party, it wasn’t really taken seriously,” she said.

“And Peter (Obi) successfully was able to convince the average Nigerian that you can have a better deal. And because of that, most Nigerians were convinced enough to have followed him.

“So, the Labour Party then became bigger than it had ever been, right from inception. The labour unions are part of the Labour Party. There is no village, no hamlet, no polling unit in Nigeria where you don’t have a worker who belongs to one of the trade unions, one of the labour unions.

“So, how can you say you don’t have people to man polling units for you everywhere? You see, something is definitely not adding up.

“Something went terribly wrong, but these are the things we’re trying to correct so that in future, when the Labour Party now puts forward a candidate, it will put a good foot forward, and the right structures that should man all the polling units, they are there already, it’s just that they were not being utilised. We will utilise them when the time comes.”