The Labour Party (LP) is facing a renewed leadership crisis, with internal tensions deepening over control of the party.
The party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) and a quorum of the statutory National Executive Council (NEC) have announced the dissolution of the interim National Working Committee (iNWC) led by Senator Nenadi Usman. This move has heightened factional disputes within the camp associated with former presidential candidate Peter Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti.
A leaked statement dated December 2, 2025, signed by BoT Chairman S.O. Ejiofor and Secretary Salisu Mohammed, confirmed the dissolution. According to Ejiofor, the decision was prompted by “gross incompetence,” failure to conduct congresses, and actions capable of plunging the party into “irreparable oblivion” ahead of the 2027 general elections.
As part of the reorganisation, Prince Tony Akeni was reappointed acting National Publicity Secretary and Nwauwa Nnawuihie as acting National Secretary, pending the formation of a new interim NWC in accordance with the party constitution.
“The Board of Trustees and statutory National Executive Council quorum of the Labour Party of Nigeria stand by the dissolution of the Senator Nenadi Usman and Senator Darlington Nwokocha-led interim National Working Committee of the party, as officially communicated to the dissolved committee in the party’s letter of December 3, 2025,” the statement read.
The BoT traced the crisis to the September 4, 2024 appointment of the Nenadi committee in Umuahia, Abia State, with a 90-day mandate to conduct nationwide state congresses and a national convention. The committee reportedly failed to meet its deadlines, even after an additional 90-day extension granted in July 2025, which expired on October 17, without holding a single ward congress nationwide.
The statement accused the dissolved iNWC of presiding over a period in which LP was excluded by INEC from local government elections, by-elections, and upcoming polls, resulting in mass defections and organisational paralysis.
“During the same period under the sleepwalking leadership of the Usman-led committee, LP was brazenly excluded by INEC from participating in all local council elections, state and National Assembly by-elections throughout Nigeria in 2025,” the statement added.
However, Usman’s media aide, Ken Asogwa, rejected the dissolution, questioning the BoT’s authority to dissolve a constituted National Working Committee. He argued that only the NEC or the National Convention has such powers. Asogwa also questioned the legitimacy of the letters announcing and retracting the dissolution, hinting at conflicting communications.
Obiora Ifoh, LP’s National Publicity Secretary, dismissed claims of internal factions and ridiculed the BoT’s authority behind the dissolution.
“My initial response is that you can’t place something on nothing. We don’t have any faction,” Ifoh said. “What you see playing out is the BoT that belongs to the Nigeria Labour Congress. The NLC has become a government organisation that now appoints a BoT for a political party. The Labour Party is intact. We have only one leader. These guys (Nenadi and members of the BoT) are just distractions. They are amusing themselves and bastardising what democracy stands for.”
The crisis sets the stage for a potential legal and political showdown within the party as it navigates the 2027 election cycle.
