The Labour Party (LP) has stated that it does not feel aggrieved by the recent comments made by the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, over the creation of the Obidient Movement directorate.
The National Working Committee (NWC) opined that Obi had the right to air his grievance, adding that there was no plan or contemplation to relieve Obi of his party leadership role.
Recall Obi had last week criticised the leadership of the LP over the newly created Directorate of Obidient Movement.
According to him, the Obidient Movement is not under the control of any political party.
In a swift reaction, the party’s NWC announced that it had rechristened the contentious directorate to reflect the Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration.
Reacting to the former Anambra governor’s outburst, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh told Punch that the party had no hard feelings about Obi’s rebuttal.
He said, “Why would the party be offended? The LP, as we always, say is united. We are not offended. I mean, if we were offended, we would make a statement in that regard. He is still the national leader of the Labour Party.
“Again, how is what he said an outrage? The national leader of the party just made a clarification, which is clear enough. He said the Obidient Movement is a group of people looking forward to good governance. I agree. He also explained that the Obidient people are not necessarily members of any particular political party. As a matter of fact, you can find Obidients in other political parties.
“He only advised that instead of having a directorate for the Obidients, we should have converted it to a directorate of mobilisation, which has been immediately corrected. We now have a directorate of mobilisation, which will be inaugurated tomorrow (Saturday). I think his information was very clear enough and we should respect it.”
