The National Vice Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) for the South-West, Abayomi Arabambi, has declared that the party’s leadership, including Abia State Governor Alex Otti, have arrived at a consensus to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027.
Arabambi made the declaration during an interview on News Central on Thursday.
“Abure and Governor Alex Otti have all agreed in principle that we will support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because this presidency belongs to the South-West, not just the South,” he said, adding that the arrangement was designed to allow the South-West to complete an eight-year cycle in the presidency.
Regarding the question of Peter Obi’s possible return to the Labour Party, a prospect allegedly being pushed by former Finance Minister Nenadi Usman, Arabambi dismissed the idea, stating that the party’s 2023 presidential candidate cannot return.
“Obi can never come back to the Labour Party. Because of the intractable crisis and the events that have unfolded within the party, we have an agreement even with Governor Alex Otti that we will only support the second-term ambition of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
Arabambi accused Usman of acting as an agent for Obi, arguing that her push to bring the former Anambra governor back into the Labour Party was driven by the realization that Obi would not secure the presidential ticket of the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC).
“Nenadi is just an appendage of Peter Obi; she is only deceiving herself. She wants Obi as our Labour Party presidential candidate, but that is not going to work,” he said, urging her to abandon the idea regardless of who is sponsoring it.
“She should perish that thought, no matter who is sponsoring her,” he added.