Labour Party Submits New Leadership List To INEC

The faction of the Labour Party (LP) headed by Senator Nenadi Usman has officially presented a 34-member Interim National Working Committee (INWC) list to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), thereby intensifying the ongoing leadership crisis inside the party.

The document, co-signed by Senator Nenadi Usman and the interim National Secretary Darlington Nwokocha, was directed to the INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan and was stamped as received by the commission on Friday, November 28, 2025. Usman appended her signature in the capacity of Interim National Chairman, whereas Nwokocha signed in the capacity of Interim National Secretary.

In the accompanying cover letter, the group led by Usman invoked relevant sections of the Labour Party constitution together with the National Executive Council (NEC) resolution dated July 18, 2025, as the legal basis for their mandate, pointing out that the NEC had granted them authority to them to form the party’s interim national leadership. They requested that INEC recognise the submitted individuals as the “legitimate and authentic Interim National Working Committee leadership of the Labour Party.”

Usman wrote, “We are pleased to forward herewith the names and designations of the reconstituted members of the Interim National Leadership in line with the LP constitution and the statutory NEC resolutions of July 18, 2025, already forwarded to the commission in the party’s correspondence and acknowledged by the commission on July 21, 2025.”

She further stated that the NEC had authorised the interim leadership to “constitute the full body of the interim national leadership in accordance with Article 13 of the Labour Party constitution.” Usman subsequently called upon INEC to “take legal and official notice” of the names that had been submitted.

The faction additionally emphasised that this new 34-member list “superseded” a previous shortened version that had been submitted in August as well as the list lately sent to INEC by the opposing faction under Julius Abure.

This development occurred merely one day after Abure held his own NEC meeting—which was attended by INEC representatives and former vice-presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed—during which he reasserted his position as the national chairman of the party.

The faction of Usman and Nwokocha continues to receive support from prominent party personalities, among them Abia State Governor Alex Otti, the 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, and various other stakeholders.

Among the positions filled in the freshly submitted list are such senior roles as Deputy National Chairman (TUC) Mohammed Misau, Deputy National Chairman (Female) Mrs. Nike Oriola, and Deputy National Chairman (NLC) Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, along with several others.

As the two rival factions have now both forwarded conflicting leadership lists to INEC, the prolonged internal turmoil within the Labour Party shows no sign of resolution, leaving the electoral body to deal with yet another intricate political conflict.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli