The spokesman of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Ken Asogwa, has finally admitted that the exit of Mr. Peter Obi, created a serious vacuum within the opposition party.
He said this on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television while reacting to Obi’s recent alignment with the African Democratic Congress-led coalition ahead of the 2027 elections.
“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,” Asogwa said
According to him, the party had anticipated Obi’s exit long before it happened on December 31 and had already started taking steps to minimise its 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.
He explained that the party subsequently returned “to the drawing board” to rebuild its structure and political base.
Asogwa said the LP identified its strongest institutional support base in the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.
“We discovered that the greatest potential that the Labour Party has is the institutional members it has in the name of NLC and TUC,” he said.
“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.”
He also insisted that the party still possesses 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.
