The call by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar for a merger of opposition political parties in Nigeria to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general election has been rejected by the Labour Party (LP).
Abubakar, who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023, election on Tuesday, November 14 called for a coalition of opposition parties which he said could remove the APC from power at the Federal level.
He canvassed this position when he hosted the national executive committee of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) led by its national president, Yabagi Sani, in Abuja.
However, Labour Party National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja said the party is not in talks with the PDP over a merger to dislodge the ruling APC from power at the Federal level.
“Kindly disregard the sensational news making the round which suggests that Labour Party is working out a merger arrangement with any other political party. It is purely a news item twisted and sensationalized by a section of the media to embarrass the Labour Party.
“A news organisation called for a reaction as regards to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for opposition political parties to work together to fight against the one-party system in Nigeria being planned by the APC.
“In my reaction, I said that it was only a proposal and every Nigerian should be interested in making democracy work in Nigeria and that what we have presently is an autocracy. There was nowhere in the response that the purported merger between LP and PDP was mentioned.
“The Labour Party has just concluded the 2023 general election episode and a post-mortem is yet to hold, therefore the way forward for the party has not been discussed. When we do, Nigerians will be properly informed.
“I therefore urge Nigerians to disregard such and many other twisted and sensational stories purported to emanate from the Labour Party. The party has its official platform used to disseminate its information,” said Ifoh in the statement.
