LP tackles Obi’s ally, Ozigbo, says his interest is financial

The leadership of the Labour Party on Sunday debunked the reported defection of Anambra governorship aspirant, Valentine Ozigbo, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, stressing that the former LP chieftain abandoned the party in 2024.

The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, clarified in a statement issued in Abuja.

The rebuttal comes barely a few hours after SUNDAY PUNCH reported Ozigbo’s defence on why he parted ways with the Labour Party and its presidential flag bearer in the 2023 election, Peter Obi.

Ozigbo, who recently switched allegiance to the ruling party to chase his governorship ambition ahead of the November 8 poll in Anambra State last week, claimed no serious candidate would remain in the opposition party following its lingering leadership crisis.

The former Transcorp Plc boss described his former party as a toxic entity where no serious and ambitious member should remain.

Although Ozigbo, a one-time ally of Obi, claimed he has no personal grouse with the former Anambra governor, he explained that his decision to dump LP was driven by his belief to align with forward-thinking and progressive leaders in the ruling party.

“I have no problem with His Excellency, Peter Obi. He is doing his thing and I am doing mine. Unfortunately, social media can sometimes be a haven for a lot of fake news.

“I have tremendous respect for him. But there comes a time when you want to move on to your track, particularly when there is an urgency to deal with the issue of governance,” he added

Reacting, Ifoh knocked Ozigbo, highlighting that no one gets into a position of power through ‘betrayal and desperation.’

The LP spokesman described him as a nominal member and a ‘familiar face’ in the Peter Obi Campaign Council, where he made frantic attempts to demarket the party to get attention.

He said, “The attention of the leadership of the Labour Party has been drawn to the interview by one Val Ozigbo. When he joined LP after the emergence of our presidential candidate in 2022, his mission was very clear: to work for the candidate.

“He tagged along the campaign without adding any value whatsoever to the campaign, hoping to earn some popularity with his closeness to the candidate. Today, Ozigbo has shown his real character, and he is even claiming that his association with the Obidient family was a disservice to his political ambition.

“The truth is that Val Ozigbo would rather contest the election in a political party where he hopes to be rewarded by the government in power when he loses the election. It is a fact that he has been financially challenged after the 2021 election, and he is desperately in need of resuscitating himself. It is obvious that Mr. Ozigbo has neither the interest of the nation nor Anambra State as he claimed; rather, his interest is pecuniary.”

Continuing, the party defended the gale of defection of its members and some lawmakers as a normal circle in a political season.

Ifoh also argued that Ozigbo deliberately jumped ship when he realised that he couldn’t compete with the quality of aspirants in the party and could not influence LP leadership into giving him the ticket.

The statement further read, “Unfortunately for him, virtually every political party in Nigeria knows his trajectory and his character of joining a political party a few months before the governorship election, buying the candidacy, blocking more focused aspirants, wasting the slot, and dumping the party without qualms.

We advise Ozigbo that the parties have since learnt that they can never be used again as Special Purpose Vehicles by desperate politicians. He had thought that his fake fraternity with Obi would earn him the candidacy unopposed, but he was disappointed after the party in his ward and state confronted him with proof of non-performance.

“Unknown to many, Ozigbo actually left LP in July 2024 after that disgraceful outing. Aware that he has been ostracised politically, he quickly joined in stoking the crisis in the party leadership, which he is now citing as one of the reasons he left the Labour Party.”