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Labour Party’s chairperson, Nenadi Usman, has said that its flagbearer in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, cannot contest for the presidency in the 2027 election under the party.
Obi gained a strong footing when he contested during the 2023 presidential election under the Labour Party. He defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in 2025, joining other politicians who vowed to unseat Nigerian President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
The ADC is, however, currently battling an internal crisis, and there have been unconfirmed speculations that Obi could return to the Labour Party and contest for the presidency.
Usman, while speaking to Arise TV on Wednesday, said this would be legally impossible. Usman explained that strict membership registration deadlines under the Electoral Act would make it impossible for Obi to run under the party in 2027.
The Labour Party Chairperson said the party’s register would be closed 21 days before its primaries and submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Well, it will be too late actually for him to come back because if you look at the Act now, at some point we close the register,” said Usman.
“Once we close the register 21 days before primaries, submit the register, the e-register to INEC, you can’t come from behind the door for us to register you and for you to contest the elections. That would be impossible, legally impossible anyway.”
Nenadi took over from Julius Abure as the Labour Party’s chair after the Supreme Court ruled in April 2025 that Abure’s tenure had expired, and a Federal High Court in Abuja subsequently sacked him, ordering INEC to recognise only Usman’s committee as the legitimate leadership pending a national convention.
