The internal crisis rocking the Labour Party (LP) has taken a fresh turn following accusations by Prince Tony Akeni, the factional National Publicity Secretary loyal to Peter Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti, who alleged sabotage and deliberate frustration of the party’s national convention plans.
In a leaked pre-resignation memo dated October 9, 2025, and addressed to the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT), Akeni decried what he described as “intolerable working conditions” and “policy sabotage” within the interim National Working Committee (iNWC) led by Senator Nenadi Usman.
The committee, inaugurated in Umuahia on September 4, 2024, was mandated to conduct nationwide congresses and an all-inclusive national convention within 90 days. However, over a year later 445 days into its tenure no tangible progress has been made, according to Akeni.
“Membership registration and revalidation, which are compulsory prerequisites to the congresses and convention, are not even close to commencement,” he lamented.
The factional spokesman also criticised what he termed the “zero budget policy” of the interim leadership, alleging that he had personally financed all his official duties since relocating to Abuja in August.
“I have been carrying out all assignments of the office from hotel accommodation without a penny from the Labour Party or its stakeholders, except a single N10,000 token for data,” he wrote.
He described the situation as “a disgrace to a party positioning itself as an alternative government,” questioning, “Which political party’s national image maker in Nigeria’s history funds their party’s publicity from private income especially an opposition party seeking to replace a gigantic, incumbent dictatorship?”
Akeni further accused an unnamed official within the iNWC of being a “Trojan agent” working to sabotage the party’s progress ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Whoever made the assertion that the National Publicity Secretary should single-handedly bear the burden of the party’s media needs does not mean well for the party,” he warned.
He also queried the delay in the recognition of the Usman-led faction by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), contrasting it with the prompt registration of the newly formed ADC coalition.
“Why is it that months after our inauguration, our council is still not recognised by INEC while the new ADC coalition has achieved the same effortlessly?” he asked.
In response, the Abure faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, dismissed Akeni and his colleagues as “impostors,” insisting that the Nenadi Usman-led committee has no constitutional basis within the Labour Party.
“These people are impostors. They are not known to the Labour Party. Anything ‘interim’ is not in the party’s constitution,” Ifoh told The PUNCH in a telephone interview. “They just went about creating offices for themselves and occupying positions up to national chairman. Both Nenadi and the Akeni you mentioned are not in our register. You can even go to INEC to verify.”
He accused the media of “encouraging impostors” and said the Abure-led leadership remains focused on preparations for the 2027 general elections.
Efforts to reach Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and Abia State Governor Alex Otti for comments were unsuccessful as of press time. Similarly, the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, declined to comment, saying, “We will react to it later.”
Akeni concluded his memo with a warning to the party’s elders and stakeholders to intervene urgently “before external forces ruin the Labour Party’s standing again in 2027 through internal betrayal.”
The Julius Abure-led leadership, however, maintains that the Usman-led interim committee “does not exist” and has no legal recognition within the Labour Party.
