The interim National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Nenadi Usman, has said the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, cannot contest the 2027 election under its platform due to provisions in the Electoral Act.
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday, Mrs Usman explained that the law makes it impossible for Mr Obi to return to the party after its membership register has been closed ahead of the primaries.
According to her, the party is required to close its register 21 days before conducting its primaries and submit the updated e-register to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, leaving no room for late entrants.
“Well, it will be too late, actually, for him to come back because if you look at the Act now, at some point we close the register,” she said.
“Once we close the register 21 days before primaries and submit the e-register to INEC, you can’t come from behind the door for us to register you and for you to contest the elections. That would be impossible — legally impossible.”
Mrs Usman, however, acknowledged Obi’s pivotal role in the party’s strong showing in the 2023 general election, noting that he was instrumental in attracting many members to the LP.
She revealed that Obi personally persuaded her and several others to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the Labour Party.
“Even me, he convinced me to come with him to the Labour Party — not just me, but many people who are in the party today joined because of him. We believed in equity and fair play,” she said.
Mrs Usman added that her decision to leave the PDP was driven by concerns over the party’s refusal to zone its presidential ticket to the South ahead of the 2023 election.
“We believed that the PDP should have zoned the ticket to the South. But since they left it open and were trying to field a northerner, we felt it was not fair. Though I’m a northerner, I still believed it was unjust,” she said.
