The Labour Party (LP) has revealed that it is banking on extensive grassroots structure and links with organised labour to deliver its candidates in the 2027 general elections.
Its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Ken Asogwa, stated this in an interview in Abuja on Tuesday, saying the party is fully prepared for the commencement of campaigns.
Asogwa spoke ahead of the formal opening of campaigns for presidential and National Assembly elections by political parties on August 19.
Asogwa said the party had developed a formidable organisational structure, an energised membership base and a credible presidential candidate capable of providing the leadership Nigeria needs.
“Today, more than ever before, the party has a formidable organisational structure, an energised membership base, and a credible presidential candidate who is young, well-educated and possesses the capacity to provide the visionary leadership Nigeria seeks,” he said.
He added that the party’s candidates at the state level were people of tested integrity and acceptability, making them easy to market to the electorate.
According to him, the LP’s relationship with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which are institutional members of the party, gives it a unique advantage over other political parties.
“Like we have consistently maintained, the Labour Party is today the most structured political party in Nigeria. The party is unique among all political parties because the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress are its institutional members,” Asogwa said.
He said the relationship meant that serving and retired civil servants across the country were technically members of the party, giving the LP an unrivalled grassroots presence.
“By implication, every serving and retired civil servant across the country is technically a member of the party. This gives the Labour Party an unrivalled grassroots presence,” he said.
Asogwa noted that there was hardly any polling unit, ward, local government or community in the country without a serving or retired civil servant, arguing that no other party, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), could genuinely boast of such a nationwide structure.
He said the party had not fully harnessed the potential of its relationship with organised labour in the past, but that its present leadership had taken steps to strengthen the partnership.
“We never harnessed this potential in the past, but today, the present leadership of the party has gone to marry the labour unions in a manner never seen before. We will leverage the above strength to market our candidates to the Nigerian people,” he said.
On the publication of its candidates’ names by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Asogwa expressed optimism that all the party’s governorship and State House of Assembly candidates would be listed by the electoral body.
He said the party had already met INEC’s deadline by uploading the names of its candidates before the closure of the window.
“We are hopeful that all our candidates for governorship and State Houses of Assembly will be published by the electoral body, just as they did with our presidential and National Assembly candidates,” he said.
“Gladly, we were able to beat the deadline set by the Commission by ensuring all our candidates were uploaded before the closure of the window.”