Abure Chooses Tinubu or Atiku Over Obi for 2027

The former National Chairman of the Labour Party, Julius Abure, has said he is ready to support President Bola Tinubu or former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for the 2027 presidential election. He has ruled out backing Peter Obi, the presidential candidate from the Nigeria Democratic Congress.

Abure mentioned that his decision will depend on a Supreme Court case about the Labour Party's leadership, his political interests, and the candidate's acceptability.

He also promised to rally his supporters against Obi, claiming that the former Anambra State governor has wasted the goodwill and political structure that helped him do well in the 2023 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the NDC and Obi’s team have dismissed Abure’s comments. They said they have moved on from the former LP chairman and are focused on the 2027 election.

In a chat with The PUNCH, Abure explained that he will consult his supporters and choose a candidate if the Supreme Court does not deliver its judgment before the end of November.

When asked which of the three top presidential candidates he might support, Abure said, “As for me, we are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide our case. If the judgment is not coming before the end of this November, we will rationalise the offer of whoever wants our support.

“However, it must tally with our interest and ideology, and he must be a sellable candidate. Once these are settled, our faces will be everywhere. I am talking about the same faces that took Peter Obi everywhere in 2023.”

He added, “We are open to working with any of the major candidates, but as former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, said, ‘I know whom I will not hand over to. But I don’t know who I will hand over to.’ So, similarly, I am very sure that I wouldn’t support Peter Obi for the 2027 general election. But I am open to an alignment with others.”

Abure made it clear that the NDC is not one of the parties he would support because of Obi’s involvement. He said he is not in talks with any presidential candidate at the moment.

“Yes, obviously the NDC is not included. I don’t see any reason to support Peter Obi again. I will not. And I am saying this with conviction and without any fear of contradiction. However, as of now, I am not in talks with any candidate yet. This is because it’s not just about me. It’s also about my followers and their interests,” he said.

The former LP chairman stated that his supporters remain loyal to the party structure he leads, despite some members leaving for other parties.

He accused Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti of undermining the party’s leadership. He claimed their actions dismantled the party structure from the ward level to the national level.

“Right now, they are standing by the structure of the party, the same one Otti and the illegal leadership he forced on the Labour Party sacked from wards, states to national level. What these people did to this party was a big disservice. But we know that I was their target,” Abure said.

The conflict between Abure and Obi started due to ongoing leadership issues in the Labour Party. These issues included disagreements over the national convention and the party's structure.

While Abure blamed Obi and Otti for making the crisis worse by setting up a parallel National Working Committee in Owerri, Obi’s allies argued that Abure did not keep an earlier promise to hold an inclusive convention starting from the ward and state levels.

This disagreement widened the gap between Obi and the Abure-led faction. Obi moved away from the Labour Party structure and sought a new political platform.

Abure claimed this crisis showed Obi’s leadership weaknesses. He questioned how Obi could lead the country if he could not manage a political party well.

“Obi’s behaviour in the Labour Party is now what people are using to assess if he can truly lead the country. This is because if you can’t lead a micro, there is no way you can lead a macro,” he said.

He also criticized Obi’s shift from the Labour Party to the African Democratic Congress before joining the NDC. He claimed Obi expected to have the same leadership fights in his new party.

Abure said Obi eventually left the ADC after realizing he could not achieve his political goals there. Some of Obi’s supporters stayed in the ADC while others followed him to the NDC.

When asked if Obi would have the same freedom he had under his leadership, Abure said the situation in the NDC is different. He believes Senator Seriake Dickson, the NDC’s national leader, is firmly in charge.

“No way! Let Obi compare the freedom he enjoyed under our leadership to what he is experiencing in the NDC; he already knows the difference. You can see that Senator Dickson is fully in charge and he’s not giving up the party’s leadership,” he said.

Abure added that Dickson has learned from the Labour Party crisis and is determined to avoid a similar situation in the NDC.

When asked to predict Obi’s chances in the 2027 election, Abure said he believes Obi will do worse than in 2023.

“Let me say clearly that Obi will not record the successes he recorded in the 2023 general election. That is because he has squandered his goodwill, human capital, resources, and mismanaged all the gains he had in 2023,” he said.

Abure claimed that Obi’s exit from the Labour Party cost him the organization and campaign support that helped him get more than six million votes in the last presidential election.