The Labour Party’s National Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Arabambi, has said Peter Obi will not be handed the party’s ticket for the 2027 presidential election, intensifying the internal crisis within the opposition group.

Speaking on Monday during Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics, Arabambi argued that the party could survive without its 2023 presidential flagbearer.

“We are going to do our 2027 without Peter Obi; he will not have our ticket,” he declared.

Arabambi accused the party’s acting national chairperson, Nenadi Usman, and activist Aisha Yesufu of working with Obi against the party’s interest. He said the Labour Party leadership would take steps to remove them, branding them as “an epitome of political extremism.”

The spokesman challenged Obi to publicly confirm his departure, alleging that the former Anambra State governor had split loyalties.

“Obi has one leg in Labour Party, one leg in PDP, and one leg in ADC,” he said. “If he believes he can get seven million votes in 2027, we advise him to pronounce his departure from Labour Party.”

Arabambi dismissed suggestions that Obi was solely responsible for the party’s momentum in the last election. According to him, the movement was fuelled largely by the anger of young Nigerians following the EndSARS protests and widespread dissatisfaction with former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

“Obi was just a man who came to whip as a result of Nigeria’s tiredness of the scandalous administration of Buhari during the EndSARS,” he added. “He only found Labour Party as that vehicle that can provide that change, and he was just opportuned to be the head.”