BREAKING: Labour Party denies merger talks with PDP

The Labour Party (LP) has denied news making the rounds that it is in merger talks with any political party, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Politics Nigeria reports that Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election, had proposed a merger between opposition parties in order to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

But in a statement on Thursday, Obiora Ifoh, LP’s national publicity secretary, described reports that the party was engaged in merger discussions is “twisted to embarrass the Labour Party”.

The statement reads: “Kindly disregard the sensational news making the round which suggests that Labour Party is working out a merger arrangement with any other political party.

“It is purely a news item twisted and sensationalized by a section of the media to embarrass the Labour Party.

“A news organisation called for a reaction as regards to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for opposition political parties to work together to fight against one party system in Nigeria being planned by the APC.

“In my reaction, I said that it was only a proposal and every Nigerian should be interested in making democracy work in Nigeria and that what we have presently is an autocracy.

“There was nowhere in the response that the purported merger between LP and PDP was mentioned.

“The Labour Party has just concluded the 2023 general election episode and a post mortem is yet to hold, therefore the way forward for the party has not been discussed. When we do, Nigerians will be properly informed.

“I therefore urge Nigerians to disregard such and many other twisted and sensational stories purported to emanate from the Labour Party. The party has its official platform used to disseminate its information.”