Julius Abure, the immediate past National Chairman of the Labour Party, has stated that he is ready to align with President Bola Tinubu or former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election, while ruling out any support for Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress.
Abure, however, noted that his decision to back any candidate would hinge on the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case concerning the Labour Party’s leadership, his political interests and ideology, as well as the candidate’s acceptability.
He also vowed to mobilize his supporters against Obi, maintaining that the former Anambra State governor had squandered the goodwill and political structure that helped produce his strong showing in the 2023 presidential election.
However, the NDC and Obi’s camp dismissed Abure’s position, saying they had moved on from the former LP chairman and were focused on the 2027 presidential contest.
Abure said he would consult his supporters and decide on a preferred candidate if the Supreme Court failed to deliver its judgment before the end of November.
Asked which of the three leading presidential contenders he was willing to support, Abure said, “As for me, we are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide our case, and if the judgment is not coming before the end of this November, we will rationalize the offer of whoever wants our support.
“However, it must tally with our interest and ideology, and he must be a sellable candidate. Once these are settled, our faces will be everywhere. I am talking about the same faces that took Peter Obi everywhere in 2023.”
He added, “We are open to working with any of the major candidates, but as former Head of State Ibrahim Babangida said, ‘I know whom I will not hand over to.'” But I don’t know who I will hand over to.’ So, similarly, I am very sure that I wouldn’t support Peter Obi for the 2027 general election. But I am open to an alignment with others.”
Abure, who stressed that the NDC was not among the parties he would consider supporting because of Obi’s presence, said he was not yet negotiating with any presidential candidate.
“Yes, obviously the NDC is not included. I don’t see any reason to support Peter Obi again. I will not. And I am saying this with conviction and without any fear of contradiction. However, as of now, I am not in talks with any candidate yet. This is because it’s not just about me. It’s also about my followers and their interests,” he said.
The former LP chairman stated that his supporters remained loyal to the party structure he controlled, despite the defection of some members to other platforms.
He accused Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti of undermining the party’s leadership, claiming that the structure had been dismantled from the ward level all the way to the national level.
“Right now, they are standing by the structure of the party, the same one Otti and the illegal leadership he forced on the Labour Party sacked from wards, states, and the national level. What these people did to this party was a big disservice. But we know that I was their target,” Abure said.
The rift between Abure and Obi came after long-running leadership crises within the Labour Party, including disputes over how its national convention was conducted and who controlled its organizational structure.
Abure accused Obi and Otti of deepening the crisis by setting up a parallel National Working Committee in Owerri, while allies of the former LP presidential candidate countered that Abure had broken an earlier agreement to hold an inclusive convention starting at the ward and state levels before the national convention.
The disagreement ultimately widened the divide between Obi and the faction led by Abure, as Obi distanced himself from the Labour Party structure and turned to a new political platform.
Abure contended that the crisis revealed shortcomings in Obi’s leadership, asking how the former governor could govern the country when he had failed to manage a political party.
“Obi’s behavior in the Labour Party is now what people are using to assess if he can truly lead the country. This is because if you can’t lead a micro, there is no way you can lead a macro,” he said.
He also took issue with Obi’s move from the Labour Party to the African Democratic Congress before he joined the NDC, claiming that the former presidential candidate had hoped to recreate the leadership struggle he faced in his previous party.
Abure stated that Obi ultimately departed the ADC after realizing he could not achieve the political result he wanted there, noting that some of his supporters stayed in the party while others went with him to the NDC.
Asked whether Obi would have the same freedom he enjoyed under his leadership, the former chairman replied that the situation in the NDC was different, contending that its national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, was still firmly in control.
“No way! Let Obi compare the freedom and leverage he enjoyed under our leadership to what he is experiencing in the NDC; he already knows the difference. You can see that Senator Dickson is fully in charge and he’s not giving up the party’s leadership,” he said.
Abure further stated that Dickson had drawn lessons from the Labour Party crisis and was resolved to stop a similar situation from arising in the NDC.
When asked to evaluate Obi’s prospects in the 2027 election, Abure forecast that the former governor would fare worse than he did in 2023.
“Let me say clearly that Obi will not record the successes he recorded in the 2023 general election. That is because he has squandered his goodwill, human capital, resources, and mismanaged all the gains he had in 2023,” he said.
Abure asserted that Obi’s exit from the Labour Party had deprived him of the organizational structure and campaign machinery that had helped him garner over six million votes in the previous presidential election.
In response, Constance Ikokwu, spokesperson for the NDC Presidential Campaign Council, rejected Abure’s stance, stating that the party was focusing on matters of national significance.
Ikokwu stated that Obi was concentrating on his campaign and on efforts to secure victory in 2027.
She said, “Mr. Peter Obi is fully occupied with the campaign trail, focused on the important task of leading a national effort towards the 2027 presidential contest, an election that offers Nigerians an opportunity to rescue the country and change its direction.
“In the light of that, all we can say is good luck to Mr Julius Abure in his new ventures.”
In the same vein, Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri, said the former LP chairman was no longer relevant to the campaign’s immediate priorities.
“We no longer talk about Abure. We have moved on from them. We have an election less than 70 days away, and then we are campaigning,” Zekeri said.
He urged Nigerians who value equity, justice, fairness, capacity, compassion, and competence to back Obi, whom he called the most qualified candidate to move the country forward.
Zekeri, however, conceded that not all Nigerians would back Obi, calling such differences a normal part of the democratic process.
He stated that Abure’s choice not to support Obi stemmed from personal grievances rather than the national interest.
“The individual you mentioned (Abure) has now said he doesn’t want to support Obi, and his reason for that was that he has an axe to grind. I think he should be asking himself why he should place his personal sentiment and belief above national interest. But that is up to him.
“However, we are not discussing him. He is not critical to what we are doing at this time,” he added.
