The Labour Party (LP) has declared itself an open political home for all leaders and political heavyweights, including President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former presidential candidate Peter Obi, as the party seeks to rebuild and rebrand itself ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The assurance came on Monday from Ikechukwu Emetu, the Deputy Governor of Abia State and Chairman of the LP’s National Steering Committee on Membership, Revalidation and e-Registration, during a press briefing at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Emetu was responding to questions on reports that Obi might be unwelcome to return to the party after his recent defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), a development that has sparked fresh debate about LP’s future and its position in Nigeria’s opposition landscape.
“The Labour Party is a party for all, irrespective of who they are,” Emetu said. “The party is a national party and is not a cult group, where people will be restricted to coming into the party.”
He added that the party’s doors remain open not only to Obi but to Tinubu as well. “Even Mr. President, **Bola Ahmed Tinubu, can decide, on or before the 2027 elections, to join the Labour Party, and we will gladly accept him,” Emetu declared, stressing that the party’s philosophy is rooted in inclusiveness rather than exclusion.
The comments by Emetu come amid lingering factional disputes within the Labour Party, which escalated after the 2023 elections and led to parallel leadership claims.
Last month, a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that the tenure of the former National Chairman, Barrister Julius Abure, had elapsed, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise a caretaker committee led by Nenadi Usman pending a national convention. INEC duly updated its records to reflect the caretaker committee’s leadership.
Emetu brushed aside ongoing resistance from Abure, who has vowed to appeal the judgment, describing the challenge as “inconsequential.” “The only court Abure can take his appeal to now is the volleyball court,” he said. “Abure is in the past now because we have moved on.”
The statement underlines a push by the Otti–aligned faction of the party to put internal wrangling behind it, following months of legal battles and organisational stand-offs that threatened to weaken the opposition platform.
Political analysts say the Labour Party’s intent to cast itself as an inclusive platform could be a bid to widen its base after defections and leadership instability threatened to diminish its influence. In recent months, several LP stalwarts have publicly discussed coalition politics and strategic realignment in the broader opposition landscape.
Asked about whether the party has begun reconciliation efforts with aggrieved members, Emetu did not disclose specific initiatives but suggested that the leadership transition to the caretaker committee was a step toward organisational renewal.
