The crisis rocking Labour Party took a fresh twist on Thursday when one of the four factional national chairmen, Callistus Okafor, announced his exit from the party.
The other factional leaders laying claim to the party leadership include the incumbent Julius Abure, a former Deputy Chairman, Lamidi Apapa and head of the National Caretaker Committee, Nenadi Usman.
Okafor, a former National Vice-Chairman of LP, broke the news at a press conference in Abuja.
“My team and I had carefully looked at what is happening in the Labour Party, including the crises that have been going on for seven years, and wondered how long it will continue.
“In the last one week, the National Working Committee and the National Executive Council of my faction met separately and took a decision,” he stated.
While threatening that he was leaving the Labour Party with his estimated five million supporters, Okafor named Team Wazobia Nigeria, a socio-political and non-partisan movement, as his present destination.
He said, “I hereby stand today to announce to Nigerians and all the Labour Party faithful who are under my own faction that we are pulling out today as a team and leaving with our over five million supporters under my control, as a factional national chairman of the Labour Party.
“We are moving from the Labour Party to Team Wazobia Nigeria, a socio-political and non-partisan movement. This crisis has come to a point where it’s no longer healthy in the Labour Party.
Among other things, he hinged his decision to quit on the nonchalant attitude and the failure of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, to resolve the leadership crisis threatening to tear the party apart.
According to him, if Obi cannot resolve an internal conflict in a small party like LP, there is no way he could handle a complex institution like Nigeria.
” When His Excellency, Peter Obi joined us in 2022, what did he do?
“He supported Abure, who has become his archenemy today. He supported him in everything he did despite the warning by our former National Treasurer, Ms Oluchi Opara, about his several embezzlements of Labour Party money.
“But he never said anything and that partly contributed to his loss at the 2023 election. As they say, charity begins at home. Unfortunately, this is the man the media portrays as a good man who could not keep us in the Labour Party together.
“This is the time for reality. So, if he can’t govern the Labour Party, for me, he can’t govern Nigeria. And that is why I have to leave,” he stated.
Okafor, however, ruled out the option of defecting to the opposition People’s Democratic Party.
He said, ”I don’t know whether to say their crisis is worse than that of the Labour Party. You can see their governors and National Assembly members defecting every day into APC.
“What it means is that APC is the appealing party as of today. As of today, Mr President seems to be the only candidate ready even though he has not declared his intention for 2027.”
