The leadership crisis rocking the Labour Party deepened on Monday as the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee rejected reconciliation moves by Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, describing the effort as insincere and premature.

The Abure faction insisted that the legal battle over the party’s leadership was far from over and accused Otti of being responsible for the crisis now tearing the party apart.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, dismissed the reconciliation call and questioned its timing.

“We are not interested in any move by Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, to reconcile the party because he was the one who brought the crisis to the party in the first place,” Ifoh said.

“This reconciliatory thing he is throwing around is of no use. What we just witnessed was a judgment by a court of first instance. Why can’t he wait for the outcome of the appeal before deciding on such a move?

“Why is he suddenly in a rush to call for reconciliation? As far as we are concerned, their celebration is a pyrrhic victory. It will soon die down, and Nigerians will behold the true leadership of the party. Let him know that the battle is not over.”

The hardline stance by the Abure camp highlights the depth of division within the party, despite recent court rulings and the intervention of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which has recognised the Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee.

The rejection came barely hours after Otti publicly expressed regret over the exit of the party’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, describing his departure as a major setback for the Labour Party.

Otti spoke in Abuja during a meeting with members of the party’s Board of Trustees, leaders of the National Caretaker Committee and representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.

The meeting followed INEC’s decision to recognise the Nenadi Usman-led caretaker committee—a move earlier described by the Abure faction as hasty, prejudicial and aimed at undermining the party’s leadership.

During the meeting, Otti said the new leadership had resolved to pursue reconciliation and rebuild internal cohesion following its court victory.

“We have decided that there is a need to set up a reconciliation committee,” he said. “The interim NWC will advise us on when to do so. The idea is to reconcile everyone who desires to return.

“Labour is already a coalition—the coalition of Nigerian workers and progressive-minded people,” he said. “We have no plans to join another coalition.”

He commended INEC for complying with the judgment of the Federal High Court by replacing the Abure-led executives with the Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee on its portal.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Labour Party’s Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration, Marcel Ngogbehei, blamed Otti and Peter Obi for the protracted crisis.

In a statement issued in Abuja, Ngogbehei said Otti, as the party’s most powerful elected official, failed to convert the momentum of the 2023 elections into durable party structures.

“By sponsoring and legitimising a caretaker committee, launched conspicuously in Abia State, Otti injected executive weight into an already volatile leadership dispute,” he said.

“Caretaker committees are not neutral instruments; they are factional weapons. Predictably, this entrenched parallel authorities, multiplied court cases and accelerated the party’s legal disintegration.”

Ngogbehei also faulted Obi for refusing to intervene decisively to reconcile the warring factions.

“Obi remains the Labour Party’s most unifying symbol, yet he declined to impose moral authority or broker a compromise,” he said, adding that the former presidential candidate’s silence weakened party cohesion.

He warned that the ruling All Progressives Congress was benefiting from the internal crises of opposition parties ahead of the 2027 elections.

Despite reconciliation overtures from the Otti camp, the firm rejection by the Abure faction suggests that the Labour Party’s leadership crisis is far from resolution, with further legal and political battles looming. (The PUNCH)

Update news