LAGOS, Nigeria – Valentine Ozigbo, a former Labour Party chieftain and current governorship hopeful under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, has declared that the Labour Party (LP) is “almost in its dying days”, claiming the party is rapidly losing internal cohesion and public appeal.
Speaking on Arise TV on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, Ozigbo—who previously ran for governor under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2021 and only recently defected from LP to APC—said the reality within Labour Party contrasts sharply with public perception.
“LP is not exactly what people think they are seeing,” Ozigbo said.
“Unfortunately, LP is almost in its dying days, and over time people are going to see it.”
He claimed that several elected LP officials have privately admitted to him their intentions to abandon the party ahead of the next election cycle.
“There is hardly any elected member of the party who I have spoken to that is intending to run his re-election campaign under the same platform,” he added.
Ozigbo said his decision to join APC was not to validate the party’s track record but to serve as “a catalyst for change” from within.
His remarks follow his loss in April’s APC governorship primary to Nicholas Ukachukwu.
Ozigbo is currently challenging the primary result in court, alleging irregularities.
On the broader political landscape, he warned of a covert alignment between Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the APC leadership, suggesting that President Bola Tinubu may be quietly supporting Soludo’s re-election bid due to their shared opposition to Peter Obi, the former LP presidential candidate.
“I don’t want the type of deal where Soludo is APGA in the afternoon and APC at night,” Ozigbo said.
“You create confusion. You are not strengthening the party.”
Criticising what he described as political opportunism, he added, “If you want to be a man, be a man. If you want to be a woman, be a woman. If Soludo wants to be APGA, be APGA. Be proud of your APGA.”
