Callistus Okafor, a factional leader in the Labour Party, has announced that his group is leaving the party. Speaking during a press conference in Abuja on May 22, he claimed that five million members are leaving with him. According to Okafor, this decision was reached after a series of discussions within his camp, mainly because of the deep internal conflicts affecting the party.

He explained that now is the right time for his team to make the move. They have chosen to join a new group called WaZoBia Nigeria. Okafor described this new platform as a nonpartisan movement and said more details will be shared soon. He added that the Labour Party is no longer in a good state for political cooperation and that it has become too unstable to work within.

Okafor also criticized Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election. He accused Obi of failing to unite the party after the election and blamed his close ties with Julius Abure, the embattled national chairman, for worsening the party’s crisis. According to him, Obi once supported Abure but now sees him as an opponent. He believes that if Obi had reached out to him, the Labour Party could have entered the election as a united team, which might have affected the outcome.

He went on to say that Obi missed a big chance to strengthen the party after the polls, and this has only weakened its structure further. The Labour Party has been dealing with a long leadership struggle, with different people like Abure, Nenadi Usman, and Okafor all claiming to be the national chairman. These ongoing disputes have raised serious concerns about the party’s stability and whether it can continue to serve as a strong opposition.