By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Labour Party (LP) Directorate on Mobilisation and Integration has denied any plan to dump Mr Peter Obi as the presidential candidate of the party for the 2027 election.
The directorate was reacting to the story on the social media that the party had reconciled with the Apapa-led faction of the party where they agreed to field another candidate in the 2027 presidential election.
The refutal was contained in a statement signed by the Director General of the directorate, Marcel Ngogbehei, the Deputy Director Media and Communications, Ambassador Aju Elumelu and the Deputy Director, Strategic Engagement, Sheikh Rufai Al-Saddiq.
The directorate acknowledged that there are efforts to reconcile aggrieved groups in the party, but that no agreement had been reached with the groups.
The statement read: “The leadership and members of our great party recognises the importance of this great admonition based on our African culture of ensuring peaceful coexistent among brothers and acknowledging the fact that there’s a bigger target-liberating Nigeria from the shackles of greedy politicians and building a nation that protects the interest of its citizens.
“The party has decided to follow a peaceful approach to resolving the internal misunderstanding.
This effort within the Labour Party and its successes has elicited different reactions; and we have seen an attempt by the opposition to make a false spin for their own selfish interest, misinforming the general public with the aim of causing more crisis in our party.
“For the records, this directorate was setup to facilitate reconciliation and help mobilise and integrate Labour Party (LP) stakeholders toward electoral victory for our presidential candidate, Peter Obi come 2027.
“The party leadership recognised the need for unity and cohesion within the party as a requirement for internal party stability and improving the winning chances of Peter Obi, in the coming 2027 elections.
“We have reached out through various channels to different stakeholders and discussions are still ongoing on various fronts; and we are also making great successes in this endeavour.
“To misconstrue this effort as against our presidential candidate is unfortunate and we can’t help those with this mindset. But to set the records straight, Peter Obi remains our presidential candidate for 2027 as ratified and all the party leadership are behind him and committed to his message of a new Nigeria.