Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said the Labour Party (LP) did not take part in the national summit of opposition party leaders held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Saturday.
At the summit, several opposition parties, including the African Democratic Congress (ADC), led by David Mark, a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), announced plans to present a single presidential candidate for the 2027 elections.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja after a Labour Party National Working Committee (NWC) meeting chaired by Nenadi Usman, Otti stated that the party remains committed to fielding its own presidential candidate in the next general election.
“Unfortunately, we were not part of the summit. We will hold a convention. So, we are not bound by what happened there [in Ibadan]. We did not attend,” Otti said.
“We are a political party. So if you are a party member and want to run, we will give you a ticket.”
Otti also noted that the party remains open to reconciliation with aggrieved members, including former national chairman Julius Abure.
“If you followed the convention, we had over 25 state chairmen in attendance, many of whom were previously aligned with Abure,” he said.
“It is part of the charge that we gave the national working committee to reconcile and bring back as many people as possible, and that it is happening.
“We declared that there were no winners and no vanquished. Everybody is a winner, so we are keeping our doors open, even for Abure to return to the party that he had worked for. So, the disagreement is over. We are now reconciling, reintegrating, and strengthening the party.”
The governor expressed confidence in the Nenadi Usman-led NWC to lead the party for the next four years.
He also dismissed any plans for the Labour Party to merge or collapse its structure into another party, including the All Progressives Congress (APC).