A former Director General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organization and former leader of the Labor Party, Dr. Doyin Okupe, says the party’s inability to build a lasting structure after the 2023 elections is responsible for the gale of defections from the party.
Okupe made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos, on Sunday.
It would be recalled that six LP legislators recently dumped the party on the floor of the House of Representatives for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The defectors include: Tochukwu Chinedu Okere (Imo), Donatus Matthew (Kaduna), Rep. Akiba Bassey (Cross River) and Esosa Iyawe (Edo).
Furthermore, several ordinary members of the Labor Party have also left the party for the APC and the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Okupe noted that mass defections from the LP were expected as elected members would not remain in a party whose future is not certain.
The former LP leader said those who left the party knew they had to do so in search of political relevance and survival.
“The Labor Party was one of those ordinary parties that existed mainly so that those who couldn't get tickets into the main parties could come and find expression.
“That's how we got there too. Our presence in the Labor Party then boosted the fortunes of the Labor Party.
“But what was important and which was essentially ignored by the Labor Party leaders and the presidential candidate was the political structure.
So, those who are in the National Assembly (under the LP platform) know that they are on their last card.
“Even if they can't come back, they need to take their opportunity right now to align themselves with one or two of the major parties and become something.
“That's why we're seeing this whole storm of diversions, and it's not going to stop,” he said.
Okupe, a former presidential spokesperson, said lawmakers elected under the Labor Party platform knew that the situation that would bring them in would be different in 202.
He added: “Those who came thanks to the popularity of the Obedient Movement know, for a fact, that they would not return because the circumstances are different.
“The situation has changed. What happened in the southwest will not happen in 2027. I can assure you. It's not going to happen.
“People want political success tomorrow, but the LP is not prepared to build. “They are not prepared to build or invest in structures, so people will leave,” he said.
According to him, it is also possible that Obi, the LP's 2023 presidential candidate, may leave the party, considering his recent meetings with some opposition leaders.
“Obi was recently with Attiku Abubakar in Adamawa. So what does that tell you? That tells you that all options are open. Labor Party supporters are not blind,” he said.
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