Our decision to make Obi a presidential candidate was a blunder with lasting consequences – Labour Party’s spokesman (video)

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Our decision to make Obi a presidential candidate was a blunder with lasting consequences – Labour Party’s spokesman (video)

The factional Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Abayomi Arabambi, says the party regrets picking Peter Obi as its presidential flagbearer in the 2023 general election.

While speaking at a press briefing in Abeokuta, Ogun state on Friday, July 11, Arabambi said the party chose Obi over one Faduri Joseph, a US-licensed nurse and an entrepreneur of note across multiple industries. According to Arabambi, Faduri would have been a better flagbearer as he would have had a better approach to the issue of governance in Nigeria should he have been elected as President.

Arabambi also stated that for identifying with the African Democratic Congress coalition party, the leadership of the LP have concluded plans to expel Obi from their party.

“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, and Obi failed to possess.

The Labour Party’s decision to sideline Faduri for Obi was a blunder with lasting consequences. Instead of a leader with depth, discipline, and a demonstrable blueprint for national renewal, Nigeria got a populist whose greatest skill is telling people what they want to hear.

The 2027 election must not repeat this error. Nigeria needs leaders like Faduri Oluwadare Joseph—men and women who understand that governance is not about slogans, but about substance, sacrifice, and systemic change” he said

Making Obi Presidential Candidate in 2023 Was a Blunder – LP Secretary pic.twitter.com/SzVZ6SWloZ
— WuzupNigeria (@WuzupNigeria) July 12, 2025