The Labour Party’s interim national chairman, Senator Nenadi Usman, has declared that its 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, would be legally barred from contesting the 2027 election on the party’s platform, citing strict membership registration deadlines under the Electoral Act.
Usman disclosed in an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, saying the party’s register would be closed 21 days before its primaries and submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
She said, “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.
“Once we close the register 21 days before primaries, submit the register, the e-register to INEC, you can’t come from behind the door for us to register you and for you to contest the elections. That would be impossible, legally impossible anyway.”
Usman, who acknowledged that Obi had been instrumental in the party’s 2023 surge, said she herself had been persuaded by the former Anambra governor to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party to the Labour Party ahead of the last general election.
“Even me, he convinced me to come with him to Labour Party. Convinced me and not just me, many people that are in Labour Party today were convinced by, let’s join Peter, go to Labour Party because we believed in equity and fair play,” she said.
Labour Party Internal Crisis
The LP has been embroiled in a protracted leadership crisis since its strong 2023 outing.
The conflict, which crystallised around competing claims to the national chairmanship, pitted Usman’s caretaker committee against the camp of former national chairman Julius Abure, whose faction accused the caretaker group of an illegitimate takeover.
The Supreme Court ruled in April 2025 that Abure’s tenure had expired, and a Federal High Court in Abuja subsequently sacked him and ordered INEC to recognise only Usman’s committee as the legitimate leadership pending a national convention.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja recently dismissed Abure’s challenge, unanimously affirming Usman as interim chairman and directing INEC to deal exclusively with her faction. Abure has indicated he will appeal to the Supreme Court
