The immediate past National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has declared his readiness to align with President Bola Tinubu or former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2027 presidential election, while ruling out support for the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi.

Abure, however, said his decision to support any candidate would depend on the outcome of a pending Supreme Court case involving the leadership of the Labour Party, his political interests and ideology, as well as the candidate’s acceptability.

He also vowed to mobilise his supporters against Obi, insisting that the former Anambra State governor had squandered the goodwill and political structure that contributed to his strong showing in the 2023 presidential election.

However, the NDC and Obi’s camp dismissed Abure’s position, saying they had moved on from the former LP chairman and were focused on the 2027 presidential contest.

In an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, Abure said he would consult his supporters and decide on a preferred candidate if the Supreme Court failed to deliver its judgment before the end of November.

Asked which of the three leading presidential contenders he was willing to support, Abure said, “As for me, we are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide our case, and if the judgment is not coming before the end of this November, we will rationalise the offer of whoever wants our support.

“However, it must tally with our interest and ideology, and he must be a sellable candidate. Once these are settled, our faces will be everywhere. I am talking about the same faces that took Peter Obi everywhere in 2023.”

He added, “We are open to working with any of the major candidates, but as former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, said, ‘I know whom I will not hand over to. But I don’t know who I will hand over to.’ So, similarly, I am very sure that I wouldn’t support Peter Obi for the 2027 general election. But I am open to an alignment with others.”

Abure, who insisted that the NDC was not among the parties he would consider supporting because of Obi’s presence, said he was not yet negotiating with any presidential candidate.

“Yes, obviously the NDC is not included. I don’t see any reason to support Peter Obi again. I will not. And I am saying this with conviction and without any fear of contradiction. However, as of now, I am not in talks with any candidate yet. This is because it’s not just about me. It’s also about my followers and their interests,” he said.

The former LP chairman said his supporters remained loyal to the party structure he controlled, despite the defection of some members to other platforms.

He accused Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti of undermining the party’s leadership, alleging that the structure was dismantled from the ward to the national level.

“Right now, they are standing by the structure of the party, the same one Otti and the illegal leadership he forced on the Labour Party sacked from wards, states to national level. What these people did to this party was a big disservice. But we know that I was their target,” Abure said.

The dispute between Abure and Obi followed prolonged leadership crises in the Labour Party, including disagreements over the conduct of its national convention and control of its organisational structure.

While Abure accused Obi and Otti of worsening the crisis by establishing a parallel National Working Committee in Owerri, allies of the former LP presidential candidate argued that Abure breached an earlier agreement to conduct an inclusive convention beginning at the ward and state levels before the national convention.

The disagreement eventually widened the gap between Obi and the Abure-led faction, with Obi moving away from the Labour Party structure and pursuing a new political platform.

Abure argued that the crisis exposed Obi’s leadership shortcomings, questioning how the former governor could lead the country after failing to manage a political party.

“Obi’s behaviour in the Labour Party is now what people are using to assess if he can truly lead the country. This is because if you can’t lead a micro, there is no way you can lead a macro,” he said.

He also criticised Obi’s movement from the Labour Party towards the African Democratic Congress before joining the NDC, alleging that the former presidential candidate expected to reproduce the leadership struggle in his previous party.

Abure said Obi eventually left the ADC after realising he could not secure his desired political outcome there, adding that some of his supporters remained in the party while others followed him to the NDC.

On whether Obi would enjoy the freedom he had under his leadership, the former chairman said the situation in the NDC was different, arguing that its national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, remained firmly in control.

“No way! Let Obi compare the freedom and leverage he enjoyed under our leadership to what he is experiencing in the NDC; he already knows the difference. You can see that Senator Dickson is fully in charge and he’s not giving up the party’s leadership,” he said.

Abure added that Dickson had learnt from the Labour Party crisis and was determined to prevent a similar situation in the NDC.

Asked to assess Obi’s chances in the 2027 election, Abure predicted that the former governor would perform below his 2023 showing.

“Let me say clearly that Obi will not record the successes he recorded in the 2023 general election. That is because he has squandered his goodwill, human capital, resources, and mismanaged all the gains he had in 2023,” he said.

Abure claimed that Obi’s departure from the Labour Party had cost him the organisational structure and campaign machinery that helped him secure more than six million votes in the last presidential election.

Reacting, the spokesperson for the NDC Presidential Campaign Council, Constance Ikokwu, dismissed Abure’s position, saying the party was concentrating on issues of national importance.

Ikokwu told The PUNCH that Obi was focused on his campaign and efforts to secure victory in 2027.

She said, “Mr Peter Obi is fully occupied with the campaign trail, focused on the important task of leading a national effort towards the 2027 presidential contest, an election that offers Nigerians an opportunity to rescue the country and change its direction.

“In the light of that, all we can say is good luck to Mr Julius Abure in his new ventures.”

Similarly, Obi’s media aide, Idris Zekeri, said the former LP chairman was no longer relevant to the campaign’s immediate priorities.

“We no longer talk about Abure. We have moved on from them. We have an election less than 70 days away, and then we are campaigning,” Zekeri said.

He called on Nigerians who believed in equity, justice, fairness, capacity, compassion and competence to support Obi, whom he described as the most qualified candidate to move the country forward.

Zekeri, however, acknowledged that not every Nigerian would support Obi, describing such differences as part of the democratic process.

He said Abure’s decision not to support Obi was driven by personal grievances rather than the national interest.

“The individual you mentioned (Abure) has now said he doesn’t want to support Obi, and his reason for that was that he has an axe to grind. I think he should be asking himself why he should place his personal sentiment and belief above national interest. But that is up to him.

“However, we are not discussing him. He is not critical to what we are doing at this time,” he added.

Source: punchng.com

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