Datti Baba-Ahmed, the 2023 vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party has debunked reports that Peter Obi has dumped the party.
Baba-Ahmed dismissed the claim while speaking to journalists after the party’s National Executive Council meeting in Abuja, which was observed by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He said, “To the best of our knowledge, our brother, His Excellency Peter Obi, is still a member of the Labour Party. Nothing has changed. If he were here now, I would have shifted my seat to the left for him.”
He also stated that the Labour Party has an internal crisis which it has since survived and that the party was heading towards better days ahead.
“The Labour Party has not reduced in any way. We have only increased in numbers. But with the submission of our leader, the National Secretary, we have gone through rough times, as is usual with political associations, and have emerged from it.
“The highlight and major turning point of this NEC meeting is the presence of INEC, which validates this sitting and justifies our presence here. As law-abiding citizens, we strictly go by what the law provides.
“This is a renewed drive for reconciliation, and I am here as a loyal party member to continue to open our arms to embrace new and existing members, to come back and reconcile with the party for the national assignment ahead of us,” Baba-Ahmed noted.
Recall that Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna State had announced his defection from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to the African Democratic Party (ADC).
El-Rufai’s defection comes days after Atiku Abubakar also dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ADC.