November 30, (THEWILL) — With the formal defection of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el- Rufai from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Social Democratic Party, SDP, respectively to the adopted coalition platform, African Democratic Congress, ADC, last week, all eyes turned to Labour Party leader, Peter Obi, who was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election. All three men, who had formed a coalition alongside other notable politicians, had been on the fringe of the party for the past seven months.
Abubakar, who had resigned his membership of the PDP on July 16, 2025 collected his ADC membership card at the party’s Jada 1 Ward in Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa State on November 24, while el-Rufai, who had on March 10, 2025 defected from the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, to the Social Democratic Party, SDP, completed his registration for the ADC membership on Thursday at his Unguwar Sarki ward in Kaduna.
Understandably, el-Rufai after his defection called on Obi to leave the LP and formally join them at the ADC. When that call would be answered remains uncertain, THEWILL has gathered.
First, which of the LP factions did el-Rufai refer to? The faction led by Julius Abure or the one led by Senator Esther Nenadi Usman?
At the weekend, Abure presided over a National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting which was attended by Obi’s running mate in the 2023 general election, Datti Baba Ahmed and officials from the Litigation and Election and Party Monitoring of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, led by Mrs Rakiya Dattijo.
Ahmed had earlier said he took permission from Obi to attend meetings organised by Abure’s faction. The NEC mandated the chairman and secretary to convene a special convention if necessary and ratify plans to conduct ward, local government and state congresses nationwide.
Baba-Ahmed, on Friday stated that former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, has not left the party.
Addressing journalists after the Council meeting in Abuja, Baba-Ahmed said, among others, “To the best of our knowledge, our brother, His Excellency, Mr 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 disclosed that the party has embarked on a renewed drive for reconciliation.
Obi recently renewed his membership of the LP. That was during the November 5, 2025, governorship poll in Anambra State, when he said, “As a member of the Labour Party, I’m supporting my party’s candidate, Dr George Moghalu.” This LP is Senator Usman’s faction.
Obi, Alex Otti, Abia State Governor and officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress, who lay claim to ownership of the party, in July this year parted ways with the Abure-led faction and set up a 29-man caretaker committee headed by Usman, who was subsequently made the Acting National Chairman of the faction.
An ADC party source confided in THEWILL that the expectation is high within the party that Obi will join at the appropriate time.
“Everybody is keeping to his or her schedule. You may have noticed in recent times that Obi has not said that he will run for election on the platform of the LP,” said the source, who further explained that what he meant by timing is part of a plan by some coalition leaders to build structures in their respective constituencies before joining the party.
However, THEWILL gathered that timing is also a matter of strategy for the ADC leaders, particularly Atiku and el-Rufai, whose defection has added a boost to the image of the party. With the prolonged leadership crisis in both the PDP and the LP, the voice of the opposition seemed to have been submerged in the wave of orchestrated defections of governors from the PDP to the governing APC.
Currently, the overwhelming insecurity in the country and the international dimension it has assumed since President Donald Trump of the United States of America labelled Nigeria, a Country of Particular Concern, has temporarily halted the drift to a one-party state and redirected the attention of government to governance, while giving the ADC leaders the opportunity to emerge as the alternate opposition party.
BUILDING STRUCTURES
For Obi, building structures that would strengthen his political clout within the ADC is becoming a challenge, especially in the face of the prolonged factional crisis with LP.
Investigation shows that just as el-Rufai pressured Obi last week to leave LP for the ADC, close associates and leaders of groups within the Obidient Movement, OM, are putting pressure on Obi to provide political direction to its members.
“The question on the lips of every Obidient (OM member) is what next. We are expecting our principal to make a declaration. Nobody knows where he is going, where he belongs, what his position is. Do we remain in LP or go to ADC.? Time is running out,” an influential member of the OM told this newspaper on Saturday morning. With LP factionalised, OM is the only viable structure for Obi at the moment. OM is currently facing political and administrative challenges.
Obi is therefore faced with the urgent need to restructure the OM. The poor performance of the LP in the just concluded Anambra governorship poll is said to be giving him cause for concern. The leadership of the OM in the state led by Chief Ikenna Azochine openly disagreed with Obi on the choice of Moghalu as LP governorship candidate.
Chief Azochina was said to have told Obi that Moghalu, his choice, lacked the political clout and structure to contest and win the election. To prove a point, Ikenna and his OM team worked for incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
“This anti-party affair happening in PO’s state has sent a bad signal to the movement,” a dependable OM source told THEWILL. “Similar occurrences, particularly exco issues, are going on in chapters of the movement in Lagos, Benue, Plateau states and they are giving PO a cause for concern. The point is that PO is slow in taking action and leaving everybody worried. The only saving grace is that most of us are still with him.”
Internal wrangling within the Lagos chapter of the OM paints a vivid picture of how exco related issues are affecting the political fortunes of the movement in many states across the country. To sustain the image of invincibility that followed Obi’s defeat of President Bola Tinubu in Lagos state during the 2023 presidential poll, some leaders of the movement in the state opted for the choice of Segun Adebanjo, son of the late Afenifere leader, Pa Adebanjo, as its leader.
The ensuing opposition to the choice of Adebanjo has literally grounded the movement in the state, leaving political leaders to defer their defection to ADC alongside the 2023 governorship candidate of LP, Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who formally defected to the party on September 6, 2025.
Even so, two Lagos LP Reps, namely, Hon. Thaddeus Attah, Eti-Osa Federal Constituency and Hon. George Adegeye Olawande, Amuwo-Odofin Federal Constituency, is said to be careful not to follow Rhodes-Vivour footsteps “until Obi takes a decision on the problem”, according to the source.
“His silence, (Obi) is not helping anyone. We cannot be watching political developments from the sidelines for too long, we need to be actively involved in politics or else positions will be filled,” the source said.
In his reaction to these developments, National Coordinator of the OM, Mr Tanko Yinusa, said Obi has the experience to know what is best for the movement, the party and members and he would do so at the appropriate time.
Speaking with THEWILL on Saturday, Yinusa said Obi is not delaying taking a stand on ADC because every political leader who has joined the party took their time to do so.
He said, “Mr Peter Obi does not need anybody to prompt him in any way to join ADC because he is the one who has run for election and by the Grace of God, he wants to run again. And he would make his position known publicly just as other political leaders have made their positions known at the time it suited them.
“With regards to the structural issues of OM, we are building and we will continue to build. The truth of the matter is that it is not all birds that perch on the same place. If they are seeking something and they want to get it, they will look for where to perch. For the rest of us, we remain focused and we will do the best we can to ensure we get the best in continuation with our struggles.
“The truth about the matter concerning the LP is that Mr Peter Obi has the right to make his pronouncement as at when due. And he has already said he is a member of the Labour Party. That is where he stands. So, it is better to let him speak on these issues. What I know is that Mr Peter Obi is a member of the Labour Party, that is the best I can tell you.”
As of press time, some notable members of the ADC beside Atiku and el-Rufai include former President of the Senate, David Mark who is the National Chairman, ex-Osun state Gov Rauf Aregbesola, who is National Secretary, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, Publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, Senator Dino Melaye, former Minister of Transportation and governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, former Sokoto governor and Senator representing Sokoto South at the Senate, Aminu Tambuwal, former Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, who in National Publicity Secretary, Senator Ireti Kingibe, former Chairman, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Lauretta Onochie, former APC National Secretary, John Akpan Uduodehe and former Cross Rivers State governor, Liyel Imoke.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
