Labour Party No Longer For Transit Politicians – Peter Obi Says

The 2023 Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has cautioned against opportunistic politicians using and treating the party as a mere political springboard.

Obi, who stated this on Wednesday at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Party in Abuja, noted that some members and aspirants merely used and continue to use the party as a ‘special purpose vehicle’ (SPV) for their personal political gain.

He said that the Labour Party intend to go into the next election knowing fully well that it is offering Nigeria and Nigerians the best of people for the House of Assembly, House of Reps, Senate, governors, and every form of election.

The former governor of Anambra State, stressed that going forward, only credible and genuinely committed members would be allowed to contest on the platform of the Labour Party.

The LP NEC meeting which was presided over by the Chairperson of the Caretaker Committee of the LP, Senator Nenadi Usman, who was Minister of Finance witnessed attendance by members of the National Assembly and other key stakeholders of the Party.

Obi, who expressed concerns over candidates’ integrity and internal processes, assured stakeholders of the LP that such practices would no longer be tolerated.

In the words of Obi; “The party’s plan is to rebuild from the grassroots to the national level, a transparent and merit-based process for candidate selection across all tiers, from the House of Assembly to the presidency.

“Anyone seeking to contest under our party must be a committed member, not just someone passing through. They must be competent. Let’s do the right thing.

“Let us go from ward to local government to the state, to the zone and nationally. Everybody is free to contest. We will ensure fairness, and we want to build a party that will be fair, just, and a party people can look up to always,” he said.

Obi also stressed the importance of aligning the party’s elected officials with its ideological vision, saying that the Party is desirous of correcting the mistake it made in the past, adding that the Labour Party will ensure that whoever wants to contest must be a member of the Party and not on transit.

He further said; “It is going to be a party of ideology and not a party where you just elect people, and they become whatever goes on.

“We must have senators who agree with us, even if we fail, we fail but it is better to fail doing right than be on the side of wrong. We are going to do that for Nigeria,” Obi assured.

Obi declared that he has no intention of leaving the Labour Party, saying; “I have never told anyone I am leaving the party”.