The National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Nenadi Usman, has called on political parties seeking to form a coalition ahead of the 2027 elections to collapse their structures into the Labour Party. She said this is because LP remained the only opposition party with a realistic presence across the 186,000 polling units in the country. She said the combined strength of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), which she described as constitutional members of the LP, had positioned the party to challenge the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Usman stated this in Bauchi on Tuesday while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue, according to a statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Ken Asogwa. The 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue, themed, “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and the Judiciary Save African Democracy?”, attracted former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice-President Namadi Sambo and Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, among other dignitaries. The LP national chairman said Nigeria’s democracy survived the 2015 political crisis because former President Goodluck Jonathan sacrificed his political ambition by conceding defeat in the presidential election. She urged Nigerian politicians seeking elective offices in 2027 to emulate Jonathan’s non-violent approach to politics and respect democratic rules. Usman said Jonathan’s decision to concede defeat before the final results of the 2015 presidential election were fully announced was unprecedented in Nigeria’s political history. According to her, the former president had consistently maintained that neither his election nor remaining in office was worth the blood of any Nigerian. “Democracy in Nigeria is still in place today because of the sacrifices of President Jonathan,” she said, while questioning whether politicians seeking the presidency in 2027 would be willing to make similar sacrifices in the interest of the country. In attendance were former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim, former Labour Party’s Peter Obi, former Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, APC Deputy National Chairman (South), Ben Nwoye, and the Emir of Bauchi, Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu.
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