The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has assured his supporters that he will contest the 2027 presidential election on the party’s platform.
He stated this while addressing some of his supporters in a viral video circulating on social media on Saturday.
When asked to name which party he intends to contest the 2027 elections, Obi said, “I will still continue to run in the Labour Party. I’m a member of the Labour Party.”
That terse answer has been interpreted in some quarters as putting paid to his participation in a grand coalition by opposition parties with a view to defeating the ruling All Progressives Congress APC in the next general elections.
The former Anambra State governor then blamed the crisis in political parties across the country on the Nigerian government.
He said this while answering another question from a youth who was apparently disturbed about what appears to be Obi’s aloofness towards the party’s crisis.
He said, “What is happening in the Labour Party and the PDP is caused by the government, quote me anywhere.
“We had a problem in our party before, in the past. Yar’Adua was the President. I went to him then; he called the INEC chairman (Prof. Maurice Iwu) and told him I don’t want any problem in any party. We were forced to fix it.
“But today, in all the parties, there are problems; these are deliberate problems caused by the system. These are some of the things I want to clean up if I have the opportunity.
“Parties will function very well because you can’t have a system working without a strong opposition.”
Obi charged Nigerians to take responsibility for ensuring that their votes count, because even if agents are paid by political parties to look after their interests, the ultimate decision about whether the people’s votes count rests with voters.
Obi appealed to Nigerian youths and the electorate not to be discouraged because positive change will also be resisted by those who are beneficiaries of the old order.
He also stated that there should be a retirement age for politicians seeking public office , saying by the time the 2027 election holds, he would be 65 years old and that he would not want to be contesting for elections in his 70s.
