Labour Party Condemns Attacks on Peter Obi, Exposes Ndigbo Working Against Igbo Interests
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The Labour Party has expressed deep concern over what it described as a “wave of internal sabotage and betrayal” allegedly being orchestrated by some of its members and certain Igbo political figures against the presidential ambition of former Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary (Interim), Prince Tony Akeni, and titled “Obiora Ifoh, Clement Ojukwu & Other Ndigbo Faces Against Peter Obi’s Presidential Race,” the party lamented the conduct of its former spokesman, Obiora Ifoh, whom it accused of making “misleading and mischievous” claims against the current leadership of the party under Senator Nenadi Usman.
The statement followed recent media reports of Ifoh’s reaction to a private memo addressed to the Senator Nenadi Usman-led National Executive Council (NEC) and Board of Trustees of the Labour Party, which was leaked to the public and published by national dailies including Vanguard and Punch newspapers on October 17 and 18 respectively.
Prince Akeni described Ifoh’s assertions as “an unfortunate display of ignorance and bad faith,” particularly the claim that Senator Nenadi Usman was not a member of the Labour Party because her name was not in the membership register of the dissolved National Executive Council led by Julius Abure.
He reminded the public that the Supreme Court had, on April 4, 2025, “comprehensively sacked Abure’s faction” and declared it a “rebel splinter group with no legal standing.”
According to Akeni, “It is absurd for anyone to expect Senator Usman to appear in the register of a council that has been declared dead and buried by a terminal judgment of Nigeria’s apex court.
“All levels of the judiciary in this country, from the lowest to the Supreme Court, have recognized her membership of the Labour Party and her locus standi to represent the party in all suits she instituted against the Abure group. She won all of them without exception.”
The interim spokesman also addressed what he termed “a baseless attack” on his own membership status, recounting his long history of involvement in the Labour Party’s development and organizational growth since the mid-2000s.
He narrated how, in 2010, he was approached by stakeholders of the proscribed Delta State chapter of the Labour Party to intercede with the then national chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, and national secretary, the late Alhaji A.A. Salaam, to lift the chapter’s suspension.
“I personally led the delegation to Abuja, and after a difficult but fruitful meeting, the suspension of the Delta State Labour Party was lifted,” Akeni recalled. “It was at that same meeting that I proposed the idea of a ‘Labour University,’ which was warmly received by the NEC under Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, who affirmed that ‘ideas rule the world.’”
He further detailed his role in recruiting notable figures into the Labour Party across the South-South and beyond, naming Prof. Pat Utomi, the late Chief Frank Kokori, Barr. Victor Odebala, and former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke among those he personally engaged to broaden the party’s base.
The statement went on to criticise those Akeni described as “betrayers of the Igbo cause and Peter Obi’s vision for Nigeria,” accusing them of undermining the former presidential candidate for selfish reasons.
He listed among them Obiora Ifoh, Clement Ojukwu, Joe Igbokwe, Minister David Umahi, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, and “sections of stomach infrastructure Ohanaeze leadership” who, he alleged, are already endorsing President Bola Tinubu for 2027.
“Let us not allow them to reduce Peter Obi from ‘Obi Nwane of Africa’ to ‘PO of Agulu village,’ just as Nigeria once reduced the great Nnamdi Azikiwe from ‘Zik of Africa’ to ‘Owelle of Onitsha,’” Akeni warned, invoking a decades-old Tanzanian editorial that, he said, condemned Nigeria’s habit of diminishing its brightest minds.
The statement called on Nigerians—particularly Ndigbo—to remain steadfast in supporting Obi’s political journey and to reject attempts to derail his 2027 presidential ambition through “propaganda and internal betrayal.”
“In our time, we must reject the poison of these wolves against Peter Obi’s person and presidential project,” Akeni declared. “We must stand up for Peter Obi in 2027, provided he stands up for himself by separating genuine supporters from planted praise-singers who will mislead him.”
He concluded with a moral appeal to conscience and integrity: “God bless and keep us all, as many as continue to stand for the truth and justice, and refuse to bow to Nigeria’s god of cash-out corruption and the political cash crops of compromised politics.”
The Labour Party’s statement signals a deepening internal rift over control of the party’s structure and the direction of its 2027 strategy, even as its leadership continues to rally support around Peter Obi’s widely anticipated second presidential bid.
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