Labour Party Reacts to Rhodes-Vivour’s Defection, Reaffirms Commitment to Opposition Coalition
This post has already been read 2591 times!
The Labour Party (LP) has officially reacted to the defection of its 2023 Lagos governorship candidate, Mr. Rhodes Gbadebo Vivour, to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), describing the move as premature and inconsistent with the broader opposition strategy for 2027.
In a statement issued on Sunday, September 7, 2025, and signed by Prince Tony Akeni, Interim National Publicity Secretary of the party, the Labour Party maintained that its focus remains on building a formidable multi-party coalition capable of unseating the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the next general elections.
According to Akeni, the leadership of the Labour Party has reached a consensus that no single opposition party—including LP—can defeat APC in 2027 on its own. He stressed that what Nigeria needs is “a rainbow coalition of multi-party colours carrying along the country’s ballot population, driven by a common unifying electorate mobilization.”
The statement further explained that the party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has been working on this coalition model through engagements with opposition platforms such as ADC, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and even influential stakeholders within the APC.
Akeni emphasized that such collaboration will eventually culminate in joint decisions on the 2027 presidential ticket and state-level governorship candidates, ensuring that the most viable contenders are presented to Nigerians irrespective of their party of origin.
He noted that Rhodes-Vivour’s decision to defect was contrary to this approach. “By jumping the gun and hastily jumping boats, Vivour has shown, from our viewpoint, that he is still to learn some imperative essentials in his young political journey. Politicians who genuinely mean to serve their people should learn to hurry slowly,” Akeni stated.
He added that Obi has deliberately refused to defect to another party, choosing instead to remain in the Labour Party as the vehicle for coalition building, and expected Mr. Gbadebo Vivour Rhodes to follow suit.
Nonetheless, the Labour Party wished the former candidate well in his new political home, while restating its commitment to protecting Nigeria’s democracy from what it described as the APC’s “apparent goal of one-party state capture.”
