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The leadership of the Labour Party has denied plans to give an automatic ticket to its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the 2027 election.
It also denied the claim of an automatic ticket for the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti.
The rebuttal comes a few days after the factional National Publicity Secretary of the party, Abayomi Arabambi, announced that the party would field the former Anambra State governor to stop President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Arabambi stated this when he was featured as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
According to the LP chieftain, Tinubu would not have a smooth sail in the next general election.
“Tinubu is not just going to have it very easy in 2027, we are coming back with Peter Obi so that they will know we are very serious,” he stated.
In 2023, the incumbent president, Tinubu, defeated former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Obi to win the keen presidential poll.
When contacted to clarify if the LP was truly planning to field Obi in 2027, the National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, debunked the claim.
While indicating that the narrative was flawed, Ifoh told our reporter that the report could not have emanated from the Abure camp.
He said, “No, that news is not from us and we don’t have any camp. The report concerning our presidential ticket will be done in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Law (as amended).
“We have said it clearly before and we are saying it again that anyone who wants to fly our flags must meet our requirements and that of electoral law and the constitution. So the party has not entered into any agreement to give automatic tickets to anybody.”
The PUNCH reported in July 2024 how the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, revoked an earlier promise to give Obi and Otti automatic tickets ahead of the 2027 election.
Abure’s anger stemmed from the setting up of a Senator Nenadi Usman-led 29-man national caretaker committee orchestrated by Obi and Otti.
The committee was saddled with a mandate to conduct an expanded election to birth new executives at the ward, local government, state and national levels.
The decision did not, however, sit well with the Abure-led NWC, which described it as a null and illegal arrangement.
The party, through Ifoh, further warned Otti to stick to governance and stop meddling in the party’s affairs.
Four days after the committee was inaugurated, the party leadership withdrew the automatic ticket given to Obi and Otti ahead of the 2027 election.
When quizzed if the sudden rèvocation was to get back at the two heavyweight chieftains of the party, Abure denied it.
He told The PUNCH that the decision was taken to give equal opportunity to qualified candidates ahead of the next election.
