More than two years after the conduct of the February 2023 presidential election, the opposition Labour Party (LP) in Nigeria is still brooding over what it called the far – reaching consequences of the mistake of fielding Peter Obi as its presidential candidate.
Labour Party said the decision to give Obi its presidential ticket instead of the best qualified Fadure Oluwadare Joseph – a professional nurse, whom it described as a “man of unimpeachable credentials and visionary leadership,” was a blunder with lasting consequences.
The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Abayomi Arabambi, made this known on Friday evening in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Arabambi said that the 2023 presidential election was a stark revelation of what happens when political expediency takes over principle, stressing that at the heart of the tragedy lies the LP’s miscalculation by sidelining Faduri Oluwadare Joseph to pave way for the emergence of Peter Obi as its presidential candidate.
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Describing it as something “more than a simple error of judgment,” Arabambi said the choice of Obi was a fundamental betrayal of Nigeria’s yearning for genuine transformation at the time through LP platform, regretting that instead of a leader with depth, discipline, and a demonstrable blueprint for national renewal, the party put forward to Nigerians a populist (Obi) whose greatest skill is telling people what they want to hear.
He assured that as 2027 general elections gradually draw closer, the party will not repeat the same error, emphasizing that Nigeria needs leaders like Fadure Oluwadare Joseph—men and women who understand that governance is not about sloganeering, but about substance, sacrifice, and systemic change.
Arabambi said: “Perhaps the most damning indictment of Obi’s candidacy is his ethnic polarisation that shadowed his campaign. While Faduri stood as a truly national figure, with support cutting across regions, Obi’s movement, intentionally or not, became a vehicle for tribal sentiment.
“His refusal to firmly denounce Kanu’s secessionist rhetoric, his selective outrage over insecurity, and his tendency to frame national issues through a partisan lens exposed a troubling parochialism beneath his “unifier” facade.
“Nigeria does not need a president who excuses extremism for political convenience. It needs a leader who will uphold the rule of law while addressing legitimate grievances, something Faduri embodied, which Obi lacks.”