The Nigeria Labour Congress has said the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, is free to leave the party.
The NLC also vowed to ensure Julius Abure leaves the national chairmanship position of the party.
This comes amid the ongoing crisis in the party, following the organisation of its national convention, which the NLC has described as illegal.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the NLC spokesman, Benson Upah, said that despite the ‘illegal’ national convention that returned Abure to office, the union would never recognise him as the national chairman of the party.
He said, “Our position on this matter is clear and has not changed. Abure remains unknown to us. It is not a question of removal. As far as we know, he does not exist.”
Obi also expressed his frustrations with how the party’s national convention was conducted at an X (formerly Twitter) Space session organised by Parallel Facts last Friday night.
While explaining his absence at the national convention that got Julius Abure re-elected as the party’s national chairman, Obi told his audience that he didn’t attend the event because the party’s leadership failed to heed his appeal for wider consultation with relevant stakeholders before the exercise.
His comment has since set tongues wagging and further fuelled earlier speculations that the LP presidential candidate may have started to look for a new platform despite being guaranteed the 2027 ticket at the convention.
But Upah said the issue of whether Obi should stay or leave the party should not be debated, saying the former governor was free to determine his destiny.
According to him, the NLC cannot stand in the way of the presidential candidate should he decide to defect to another political platform.
While describing him as an asset, the spokesman said Obi has the right to leave the party if he wants.
“The right of choice is available to Mr Obi. If he chooses to leave the party, that is his preference.
“We can’t sit in judgment over him on that. But if he chooses to remain, of course, Peter Obi is an asset any day. I rest my case on that,” he added.
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