The Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Nenadi Usman, has said it may be too late for the party’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to return and contest on the LP platform ahead of the 2027 general election.
Usman made the statement during an interview on Prime Time on Arise Television on Wednesday, explaining that electoral regulations and party procedures would not allow a late entry.
According to her, once the party closes its register and submits the electronic register to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 21 days before primaries, no new aspirant can be added.
“Well, it will be too late, actually for him to come back, because if you look at the Act now, at some point we close the register, and once we close the register 21 days before primaries, submit the e-register to INEC. You can’t come from behind the door for us to register you and for you to contest,” she said.
Despite her remarks, Usman acknowledged Obi’s major impact on the party, admitting that his presence helped elevate the LP during the 2023 elections and that no current party member has comparable political influence.
“Even me, he convinced me to come with him to the Labour Party and not just me, many people that are in Labour Party today were convinced by Peter because we believed in equity and fairness,” she stated.
Usman also explained that her decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the LP was driven by dissatisfaction with the PDP’s zoning arrangement at the time.
She said she believed the presidency should have been zoned to the South, but the PDP’s decision to keep it open and reportedly favour a northern candidate pushed her and others to seek an alternative platform.
“We believed that PDP should have zoned the seat to the south, but since they left it open and said they were not zoning and they were trying to field a Northerner. We felt no, it’s not fair, though I’m a Northerner, but I felt it was not fair. That’s why I just left and quite a number of other people joined the Labour Party,” she added.