The Labour Party (LP) says it has no plan to merge with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to dislodge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 general elections.
LP’s spokesman, Obiora Ifoh, said in a statement on Thursday that his party just concluded the 2023 presidential election episode and a postmortem was yet to hold.
Ifoh said the way forward for the party has not been discussed, and “when we do, Nigerians will be properly informed”.
The LP was reacting to a proposal by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was the PDP flag bearer in the February poll, that opposition parties merge to defeat the ruling APC in the next presidential election.
The Nigerian news on Tuesday has gathered that Atiku expressed concerns that Nigeria was moving towards a “one-party dictatorship” state and called on other opposition parties to come together to defeat the ruling APC.
Reacting in a statement on Thursday, the LP said Atiku’s call “was only a proposal, and every Nigerian should be interested in making democracy work in Nigeria, and that what we have presently is an autocracy”.
“There was nowhere in the response that the purported merger between LP and PDP was mentioned.” Ifoh emphasised.
Also, the ruling APC slammed Atiku over the proposal, saying the ex-VP and his party have failed at the polls since 2015 and have failed to offer credible opposition to Nigerians.