Nenadi Usman: Peter Obi Too Late for 2027 LP Ticket

The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Nenadi Usman, has stated that it is now procedurally too late for former presidential candidate Peter Obi to return and contest the 2027 general election on the party’s platform, citing statutory deadlines governing voter register submission.

Usman made the remarks Wednesday during an appearance on Prime Time on Arise Television. “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.

The chairman acknowledged Obi’s pivotal role in elevating the party’s national profile during the last electoral cycle, conceding that no current member currently wields comparable political traction. “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,” Usman stated.

Tracing her own political migration, Usman linked her exit from the Peoples Democratic Party to a dispute over zoning. “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 explained.

Looking ahead, Usman signalled a deliberate pivot back to the party’s foundational ideology of social justice and equal opportunity, pointing to Abia State Governor Alex Otti as the embodiment of that vision. “What I want Nigerians to expect henceforth is a new Labour Party that is going to be strictly based on the ideologies the party was built initially to represent… equal opportunity, social justice,” she said, adding that Otti is “what I would say is the ambassador of the Labour Party. He’s the only governor we have and he’s doing very well.”

Usman also issued a broad appeal for deeper civic engagement from activists and labour unionists in shaping the nation’s political direction.