The crisis rocking the Labour party appears to be festering as a faction of the party led by Mr Calistus Okafor has held its National Convention to elect Ambassador Jude Ezenwafor as its presidential flagbearer.
“What we are doing here today is to elect a man who is worthy to give us that change we’ve been yearning for,” Okafor said.
In his acceptance speech, the presidential candidate of the Okafor-led faction pledged to rescue Nigeria.
“I have never been in the wrong place. Labour party is going for a rescue mission,” Ezenwafor said.
With the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the election of presidential candidates looming, the Labour party appears divided on who will be the party’s flagbearer.
Mr Peter Obi is the candidate of the INEC-recognised Julius Abure-led faction.
Mr Malik Ado-Ibrahim has emerged as the 2023 presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP).
He polled 66 votes to beat his rival, Ruby Isaac-Chinenye at the party’s presidential primary in Abuja.
In his acceptance speech, he promised to address the country’s security challenges, create jobs and revamps the economy if elected to office in 2023.
“We have minds that are young,” Ado-Ibrahim said. “We have people in the North that are doing amazing things in agriculture. I would champion your cause. We will feed Nigeria from the North, we will power Nigeria with the sun from the North, and we will bring it down to the South, to give light to our brothers.
“I promise you, I can do that, I am doing it.
“We are going to show you everything that Nigeria is about. We will show you how to be progressive, and how to use technology to make this country better.
“I assure you, we have the capacity, the vision for that.”
