Labour Party alleges internal sabotage led to 2023 election defeat

The Labour Party (LP) in Nigeria has accused its former leadership, headed by Julius Abure, of internal sabotage and poor organizational planning, which it claims led to the party's defeat in the 2023 presidential election. According to the LP's National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa, the previous leadership deceived the party's presidential candidate, Peter Obi, by falsely assuring him of a nationwide structure capable of safeguarding votes.

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In 2023, we lost the election because we did not have a structure. That is the truth.

Asogwa stated that the party leadership had claimed the existence of agents in all 186,449 polling units across Nigeria. However, on election day, the reality was starkly different, with the party failing to secure agents in even 30% of the polling units. This lack of representation, he argued, prevented the party from effectively monitoring and protecting its votes, a critical factor in its electoral loss and subsequent legal challenges up to the Supreme Court.

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The then leadership of our party deceived our presidential candidate into believing that we had party agents spread across 186,449 polling units in Nigeria.

Furthermore, Asogwa alleged that the former leadership rejected offers from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to provide polling agents. He emphasized that the LP's unique strength lies in its institutional membership with these powerful labor unions, whose members are present in every polling unit. The current leadership, under Governor Alex Otti and National Chairman Senator Nenadi Usman, is reportedly focused on rebuilding the party's grassroots support by strengthening these institutional ties for the upcoming 2027 general elections.

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On the day of reckoning, February 25, 2023, we realised that we did not have up to 30 per cent of polling agents across the country.

Reacting to these allegations, Julius Abure dismissed the claims as an attempt by "a group of usurpers" to rewrite the party's history and gain legitimacy. Speaking through former LP National Publicity Secretary Obiora Ifoh, Abure asserted that the party achieved its best electoral performance under his leadership, including the election of a governor and eight senators. He characterized the accusations as baseless and an attempt to dispute established facts.

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It is disheartening that non-party members who now claim to be leaders have resorted to rewriting history in a desperate bid for validation.