The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Ken Asogwa, has admitted that the exit of the party’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, created a major vacuum in the opposition party.
NewsWatch Nigeria reports that Asogwa stated this on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily while reacting to Obi’s recent alignment with the African Democratic Congress-led coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
The LP spokesman said the party could not deny the impact of Obi’s departure.
He said, “We can’t close our eyes to the fact that we lost Peter Obi, and he was a colossus within the party.
“So the last time I came here, I remember saying to…his departure left a void in the party.”
According to him, the party had anticipated Obi’s exit long before it officially happened on December 31.
He said the new leadership had already begun steps to reduce the impact.
“Before his departure, the rumour was already out there that he was leaving. Before he eventually left, the new leadership had already taken a number of steps to cushion the effects of that departure,” he stated.
Asogwa said the party later returned “to the drawing board” to rebuild its structure and political base.
He said the Labour Party identified its strongest institutional support base in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Asogwa further stated, “We discovered that the greatest potential that the Labour Party has is the institutional members it has in the name of NLC and TUC.
“We went back to marry them and successfully got them back. The former leadership alienated them, but thankfully we were able to bring them back into the fold.”
The spokesman insisted that the party still had the capacity to produce another formidable presidential candidate ahead of the 2027 elections.
“The Labour Party that produced the former presidential candidate has capacity, even better capacity today, to produce someone of commensurate stature,” he added.
